Miro 1.0 Released. More Than 2,700 Free Internet TV Channels

Miro, the free and open-source Internet TV application launched the first stable release, 1.0, yesterday. This version is the most important step for the application until now, which has grown in a rapid pace during its beta period, receiving more than 200,000 downloads per month.

Miro is created by a non-profit organization called the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF), receiving donations from organizations and persons like: Mozilla, Mitch Kapor, Skyline Public Works, Surdna Foundation and many individual users.

Nicholas Reville, Executive Director said: "We're not just trying to make a successful product, we're hoping to push the entire online video industry towards open standards."

John Lilly, COO of Mozilla and a PCF board member, talking about why he likes Miro: "love Miro because it just works, no other video on the web is like that. Miro represents a great blend between a web application and a desktop application."

The application includes a built-in guide listing more than 2,700 free channels of online video. One can subscribe to channels, rate them and get recommendations. When a user subscribes, new videos in each channel will be downloaded automatically, just like podcasts.

The launch of Miro comes at a very important moment in the fight for open media when subjects like net neutrality, media consolidation and DRM (Digital Rights Management) are causing controversy on the Internet.

"The future of Internet TV is too important to belong to one company. Internet TV needs to live atop something open and free, the way that the Web lives on top of the open and free Firefox browser. That's why Miro is licensed under the GPL, the gold standard in open/free licensing, meaning that anyone can take Miro and run with it, improve it, sell it, or give it away." added Cory Doctorow from boingboing.net and a PCF Board Member.

Nicholas Reville said that the PCF expects more users than Joost by January 2008, because Miro has more content, better video quality and offers more freedom for users.

You can download Miro 1.0 right now from Softpedia.