Yeah, the pre-installed software is usually crap. But there are plenty of modded ROMs for the more popular boxes. And you can&#x27;t beat the price as an OEM product -- just put your own software on it.<p>The source release policy has gotten better in the past year. Mainly due to Google (Chromebox), Hardkernel (ODroid) and others kicking the manufacturers. At least they&#x27;re upstreaming their drivers now. They have to clean up ~1M lines per SoC family, that&#x27;ll take some time. And userspace is not just blobs anymore. For example Amlogic regularly publishes a (working!) buildroot at <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;openlinux.amlogic.com:8000&#x2F;download&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;openlinux.amlogic.com:8000&#x2F;download&#x2F;</a> . Microcode for VPU or Wifi still comes as blobs.