Just wanted to say that's an incredibly slick approach at a sales letter. Rather than directing the letter to the consumer it's directed to Mom & Dad, which creates an audience to whom the concept can be explained in a simple manner. There are all sorts of emotional responses to this approach too, which creates warm and fuzzy feelings toward Boxee.
Agreed, I would be interested in his device if I didn't already have a media server with mplayer and youtube-viewer installed. I even have a nice apartment complex that unknowingly multicasts all available cable channels to me for free!
It was a great article though, even if it was a sales pitch.
Well played sir.