The reason they stopped shipping flash drive with 2.2 is that they are now doing “bring your own flash drive” and instant download version 3.0!!!

=)

Many of us are new Apple owners and we don’t have Tiger disks, so we can’t just go out and make a patchstick. We aren’t lazy, we just need to be able to get all of the files we need, and this is impossible for us to do.

Frankly, I would rather give some guy the money for doing this, rather than have to search the net for a bunch of files that aren’t in the package that Awkward says there in.

I’ve hacked most every piece of hardware I’ve bought , including my iPhone, ReplayTV, Motorola Razr and several other phones, Virgin Webplayer, I-Opener, Cue Cat and god knows what else. I suck with a solder gun but have managed to build a 9v usb charger in an altoids tin, mod an old mouse into a gaming spinner and wire a Mame control panel. I’ve rarely bricked anything irrevocably but I’ve been so happy with my AppleTV that I was reluctant to attack it without some careful in depth study and I lack the time for that study. The ATV patchstick is the perfect solution and well worth the $60 idiot tax (I’d rather call it the “my life is to busy” tax.

I know that folks have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours developing these hacks but you know what, not everyone has the knowledge and/or training to do these kind of hacks unsupported and I for one think its fine for them to take the shortcut. Isn’t what we do about expanding the box (whichever box happens to be in hand) and opening it up. Why keep that from all but the “worthy” who are willing to climb a technical mountain to gain nirvanna? That sounds like BS from people who didn’t develop the hacks themselves but want to feel special because they’ve got the skills to apply them.

I understand people getting hot about the $$$ charged, but 60 bucks isn’t a lot for the value of making this easy and if it was, no one would buy. I expect they did some real work to automate the install and make it safe (ish?). If they charged $60 for you to ship your AppleTV to them and install the hacks for you, I don’t think many would find that excessive or dishonest. That should be their next business model, offered in conjunction with their hard drive upgrade service.

My only disappointment is that I may lose out on my anticipated year of upgrades that was supposed to be included in my $60. I’m sure I still qualify for upgrades, but I don’t know if any will come out. But now that I’ve got SFTP access, hopefully I can roll with the punches!