Kodi 22 gets a surprising (but fitting) name -- development for first alpha release well underway

It’s been three months since the Kodi Foundation released Kodi 21 ‘Omega’, the long-awaited latest version of its hugely popular home theater software.

As you would expect, the team took a well-deserved break following the program's release, but work is once more underway on the next incarnation, Kodi 22. Each version of the software has traditionally been given an alphabetical codename with a sci-fi theme -- "Leia," "Matrix," "Nexus," and "Omega." While Kodi 22’s name will begin with P, it breaks from tradition, but for a beautiful reason.

SEE ALSO: It's finally here! Download Kodi 21 'Omega' now

Typically, the Kodi team solicits name suggestions from forums and team members, narrows these down to a shortlist, and then selects a winner through an internal poll, but they had problems with the letter P. Kodi 22 ‘Pirate’ was understandably rejected immediately. The second choice was already taken by a “legitimate streaming service,” and the third option was the name of a “problematic add-on.”

In the end, the team decided to make Kodi 22 a tribute to a colleague and team member who had recently passed away aged just 37, and so began work on Kodi 22 ‘Piers.’

Although there’s still some way to go before we see the first release, and no due date yet, Piers 22.0 Alpha 1 is coming along well and at the time of writing is 79 percent complete, suggesting we should get the first version by the end of summer, if not before.

While you won't see anything too exciting, you can download a nightly build of Kodi 22 now by going to the Downloads page, selecting your platform of choice and clicking the Development Builds tab.