Google: Don't hold your breath for anything that looks even 1/4 as good as Boxee. Look at all their software, including Android. Looks like dump. With Logitech as a partner, this all but cements "ugly" and dysfunctional into the cake they're baking.

TiVo: They've had some 10 years to do SOMETHING more interesting than what they first had. They've done... Pretty much nothing except bolt on some external cruft. I stopped being impressed with TiVo back in 2005 and I don't really see them going fully mainstream in the short term.

Apple TV: Total write-off at this point. Even after a jailbreak, the hardware is far too underpowered to actually do full HD. It will forever be relegated to semi-HD.

At this point, the path looks free and clear for Boxee. Nothing else is out nor on the immediate horizon that matches it in tech specs alone, never mind design and usability. I think their $199 price is going to severely limit their penetration however. It will remain a very niche solution unless they can bring that down under $150 SRP. And they need to market it as an alternative to a DVD and BluRay player, as well as an alternative to BlockBuster- in language consumers will understand. This was the biggest mistake TiVo made early on - if they had just advertised it as a digital replacement for your VCR they'd have more easily captured mindshare which they'd have had a better time converting to market share, instead of giving all the copycats years to supplant them.

Oh and regardless of the platform and price, there's always going to be some joker that thinks he can build a micro PC based on an NVIDIA ION platform for less money. When they've spent $300+ and are still left with essentially a box of loose parts and completely crap integration, maybe they'll clue in. An ION system, with all requisite pieces, including software, is still a $400+ proposition.