What is StreetDeck, The official answer
StreetDeck.com is more or less a separate entity from mp3car.com. StreetDeck is a different website, a different company name, and a different philosophy behind it. StreetDeck was however, developed by and run by the same people who run mp3car.com. StreetDeck is the name of the software, however, a StreetDeck system, at the current point, is only available as both the hardware and the software together. The overriding philosophy of anything StreetDeck is to make installing and using a computer in your car as simple as possible without degrading the available features and this can only come from bundling both together and controlling the complete system as much as possible. Right now, StreetDeck is only available as a bundled product and will be this way for at least the short term future. We are considering a number of different distribution routes, but can’t say anything about future releases for certain at this time. What we can say for certain is that we are devoted to mp3car.com and will continue to run the site just as it is as the ultimate car computer forum for hobbyists. We will also release some edition of StreetDeck aimed at the mp3car audience that may be more enticing for those who like to develop and install their own custom hardware. As some of you have come to infer, StreetDeck is not aimed primarily at the mp3car market, but rather, a more general audience. The interface is immediately appealing to most people, however, StreetDeck’s customizability through the built in script editor, IDE, and skin editor, should make it a particularly compelling product for the mp3car community.
The price for the StreetDeck system may seem quite expensive to some of you use to building your own hardware from the ground up, but the StreetDeck price includes all the software as well as assembly and testing which is generally regarded by the mp3car community as immaterial, but is a critical component for an easy to install system. Expect some other platforms in the near future with different price points and different levels of integration.
The StreetDeck software originally grew out of a master’s thesis in human computer interaction in in-vehicle environments. It has been in development for over 4 years and in that time has gone through a number of name changes, but it has never been formally released under any other name.
