The Legacy of Dreambox Between Closure and Responsibility

1st Official Post
    • New

    I’m wondering where you come up with this nonsense?

    If you’re so upset, go work with open-source teams, and please don’t repeat these baseless and absurd claims here

    • New

    well, open source or not open source... the linux settop box era is going to end anyway. it's all about money... not open source.


    Dream Multimedia closed off Enigma2 and withdrew from the open-source community primarily for business and competitive reasons. Here’s a breakdown of why they made that move:

    1. Commercial Competition

    • Enigma2 is open-source, so many competitors used it to make their own set-top boxes without investing in the core development.

    • These cheaper clones (often from Chinese manufacturers) undercut Dreambox prices, even while using the same software ecosystem.

    • Dream Multimedia felt they were doing the hard work, but others were reaping the rewards without contributing back.

    2. Loss of Control

    • With Enigma2 being open-source, third parties (like OpenPLi, OpenATV, etc.) had more control over the user experience than Dream themselves.

    • This diluted Dream Multimedia's brand and made it harder for them to offer a consistent product or monetize software support.

    3. Protecting Intellectual Property

    • Dream started building more of their stack in-house (e.g., DreamOS), with the goal of locking down their devices and protecting their technology from being copied.

    4. Strategic Shift

    • They moved away from the community model to become more like a closed ecosystem, similar to how Apple does things — more control, but less community.

    In short, Dream tried to defend their market position and revenue by reducing reliance on an open ecosystem that had started working against their business model. But ironically, this also alienated a large part of their user base, and Dreambox never fully regained the dominance it had during the early Enigma2 years.


    Edited once, last by alpha ().

    • New

    Respect yourself... as long as others respect you.

    We are here to discuss ideas, not to make things personal.

    If you don't like something, ignore it without being offensive or inciting

    You're not a guardian over anyone. Say something good or stay silent.

    Blessed is the one who knows their worth.

    Trolls always recognize their own kind.

    Edited 3 times, last by stonebox ().

    • New

    "This isn't about respect — it's obvious you're just looking to attack Dreambox. It's clear from all your posts. I know people like you and Alfa — you're only here to tear down Dreambox, and you're always hanging around in the Dreambox Plus forum, wishing for its downfall. If I were the super admin, I wouldn't let ignorant and foolish people like you two stay in the forum for even a second."

    "You two professors who seem to know so much and constantly analyze Dreambox — why don’t you put all that knowledge and wisdom into the open-source Enigma2 instead? Maybe teams like PLI and OpenATV could benefit from the priceless experience of you two fools and actually make some progress!" :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

    Edited once, last by vyperX: Merged a post created by vyperX into this post. ().

    • New

    I'm still waiting for the open community solution for SD Multi boot on aarch64 dreamboxes :winking_face:


    Gruß Fred

    Die Dreambox ist tot, es lebe die Dreambox

  • superadmin

    Changed the title of the thread from “From Dream Property to IT-POWER-TECHNOLOGY: The Legacy of Dreambox Between Closure and Responsibility” to “The Legacy of Dreambox Between Closure and Responsibility”.