Filed under: Humor, Multimedia, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware
BackRow, ugly Windows cousin of FrontRow
It's that time of the year. When Apple knockoffs fall from the trees, and collect in little muddy piles on the ground. Today's example is BackRow, a quickly developed (and almost instantly designed) Windows clone of FrontRow. Does it work? Well, yeah, sort of. The author starts off by explaining: "i looked at the short videos on Apples website (linked above) and the press release video at news.com. this work was done by reverse engineering from the videos, i have never touched an iMac (or an iPod) in person ... nor would i ever want to. if i cant program to it (meaning FrontRow, iPod, and MS PMC being closed to external developers) ... then whats the point?"Sure, iPod Linux, and other hacks have proven you can't fiddle with it... And iMac's are totally unprogrammable, right? Otto is crying so I'll get to the plusses and minuses of Casey's work here... First off, it's pretty cool that the Windows Presentation Foundation lets you do this quite quickly. As a former (lousy) programmer, from what I can see this WPF is good stuff. Unfortunately, handing someone the keys to a Ferrari doesn't mean they can drive it. At least, not very well. In this case you have some Microsoft Office clip art icons, a gradient, and some cheap tricks to pull off Front Row on the PC. Anyone want to bet how soon Apple lawyers will be on this?
What doesn't work? The interface is a straight copy. No problems there. However, movie trailers are missing because there's isn't a site with WMV's that matches what Apple has done with QuickTime. That made me chuckle. Music playback has issues, as you cannot "play all" in many cases. Also missing are podcasts, audiobooks, and uh, playlists. Apparently the author felt these weren't useful enough to copy. Ahem. Stop on by the site to see the whole drama, but beware: those demo videos are WMV's...
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Thomas said 12:55PM on 11-05-2005
This just sums up the differences between a mac and a windows machine. It irritates me I have wasted my time even reading about such a shoddy knock-off.
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BillyBrown said 1:22PM on 11-05-2005
There are some funny people around. The guy says he would never want to touch an Apple product then he COPIES one.
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ASDavis said 2:32PM on 11-05-2005
There just has to be some type of copyright problem here, wouldn't be surprised if Apple sues this guy.
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casey chesnut said 3:09PM on 11-05-2005
er, um ... i'm the guy that wrote it. just to be clear, i have no intention of making it a product ... it was entirely a learning exercise. as far as programming iPod, those are (as you say) hacks. most programmers prefer supported SDKs so they don't change out from underneath and break your code. and i know about Cocoa, i did not say that an iMac could not be programmed.
the interface is as faithful as possible, as a true test of WPF. granted, i'm not a designer, so it is ugly. and there are currently bugs with the WPF beta, so some things could not currently be done. yes, i am jealous of the RSS feed of quicktime movies. as far as other missing functionality, that was laziness on my part. playlists, play all, and everything else could be done easily ... but i wasn't going to learn anything by writing that code, so i didn't. remember ... learning exercise.
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Mark said 3:13PM on 11-05-2005
I'm guessing I'm the only one to have read this and thought 'snobby mac' at the end? I mean I like Apple and all, but come on. For one thing the guy could have chosen a trailer site like Yahoo! Movies, which, I think, might just compare to the Apple trailers area, and it's not like he has been developing this BackRow for as long as Apple has, or with as many people working on it. So what if it's a quick knock-off, that's how half the programs in the Mac GUI emulation scene got started, and often times the existence of a lower-grade one led to a far more comprable program to emerge. I believe the line at the end of his site says it best as a reply to this:
" this article detailed a rapid prototype of Apple's FrontRow application using a beta version of WPF (Sept CTP) and the MediaPlayer SDK. it is not even close to production quality, this was just a means for me to experiment with the next generation presentation technology with a real world app. nor does this implementation match the visual polish or functionality of FrontRow. for functionality, it does duplicate the core functionality, and most of the other features would be simple to implement. ...remember, this was just a rapid prototype for me to experiment with, so all of this code is throw away."
Gosh, it's almost like he admits its not as good because its an experiment... it also makes this posting look like it never read the whole page...
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fra said 3:56PM on 11-05-2005
I'm scared to install this on my laptop... but I soo want to.
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Mark Bowman said 3:59PM on 11-05-2005
What a bunch of jerks here. The guy makes the app just for fun and clearly states...
"it is not even close to production quality, this was just a means for me to experiment with the next generation presentation technology with a real world app. nor does this implementation match the visual
polish or functionality of FrontRow"
"remember, this was just a rapid prototype for me to experiment with, so all of this code is throw away."
Do you idiots have any idea how often coders practice remaking existing apps just for kicks? Its what every freaking coder out there does at some point just for fun. But way let logic and common sense get in the way. Better to bash anyone who isn't acting the part of the perfect little apple user.
And Apple users wonder why Windows users think they are stuck up jerks half the time.
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Wheels said 4:02PM on 11-05-2005
Since the WPF pillar of WinFX is buggy, is is safe to call it WTF?
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abbibi said 4:22PM on 11-05-2005
I thought it was kind of interesting, actually. It really shows how simple the programming behind FrontRow is. This is good, as it means it can probably run on older G4's...
Anyways, props to the programmer, it was pretty interesting!
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holophile said 4:28PM on 11-05-2005
There's really no sense in arguing for one platform or another. That really doesn't get anybody anywhere.
Obviously, this isn't as polished as Front Row, but it wasn't meant to be. This was merely a programming exercise to experiment with the capabilities of some new programming "foundations".
There are lots of examples of people developing similar apps to "explore new technologies". Take the Vista Netflix app for example:
http://blog.mattgoyer.com/categories/mediaCenter/2005/09/13.html#a4399
But arguments could be made for the capabilties of both platforms and the availabilty of powerful new technologies for their respective developers.
A perfect example for the Mac would be Coverflow:
http://www.steelskies.com/
I'm confident that eventually Front Row will be available as an app for a variety of Macs. But I'm also confident that you'll see Mac developers alike developing similar apps themselves, along with new features.
This is really good for everybody b/c ultimately it's exercises like this that drive true innovation. But zealotry on behalf of any particular camp doesn't serve ANY productive purpose.
btw, I'm a proud Mac user, so don't go thinking I'm some over-apologetic "Windoze" user. They both have their merits.
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filthy said 5:12PM on 11-05-2005
You know, I love my iBook as much as most people, but this is rediculous. Since when do you compare software produced by a team of proffesional programmers to something some guy was just playing around with. I'm calling major mac snob on this one.
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Skorp said 5:21PM on 11-05-2005
People must be really bore on this site...
If your 10 year old kis ever builds, let's say, an iPod out of Legos and fits a little radio inside, and proudly comes to show it to you, you should laugh in his face, tell him it's ugly and that Apple is gonna sue him. And definitely don't post pictures of it on the family web site. That way, later, when he's 20 and learning to program, and makes something like, let's say, BackRow, you won't hear about it at all. But by then the two of you don't talk that uch anymore. And when he's 30 and starting his own company, well, you won't even be getting Christmass cards anymore.
But you wouldn't do that to your own kid. It's so much easier to make fun of anonymous strangers on this website.
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fra said 5:31PM on 11-05-2005
to add to my comment, I ment to put the point across that my Intel P3M wouldn't be able to run this. After downloading the Zip and running it... I have no idea how to get it to run (Since I don't have the WMP SKD or SDK thing)
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Kabong said 5:50PM on 11-05-2005
The snobbery comes from the author of this knock-off app. "i have never touched an iMac (or an iPod) in person ... nor would i ever want to." Why would you even need to state that if you were just making an app as an experiment? What this is in reality is another lame ass dig at Apple. It's, "Anything Mac can do Windows can do better", but this doesn't follow through with that (as often happens), but it clearly illustrates the Windows mindset of taking a decent idea, and trying (poorly) to emulate it. Interesting concept? Sure! Kinda sad? That Too! I will say this though, Apple really needs to get Front Row out there for other Macs.
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Callum said 5:57PM on 11-05-2005
I think Apple's legal department would have to be persuaded it's supposed to look like Front Row. They'd laugh their asses off (as I am).
Apple: "But, Front Row is beautiful, what the hell is this crap."
If you take the Skorp POV (I really hope he's kidding) again it underlines the difference between Mac users and Windows users... we (steve-lover here!) create art, everything Photoshopped, Go-Lived or BBEdited on a mac is held accountable by the scrutiny of art to be either ready or not. If something's not ready it isn't good - why show it off. Why not make something good!?
Windows users (oh lordy, I just see the blanket statment I'm creating) make muck and can live in it- Back Row is an example of the ultimate Windows User - someone who doesn't "Think Different". But oh, doesn't it make you cry how much they want to!
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Alex said 6:15PM on 11-05-2005
I would have been upset about this post if it wasn't for the fact that the guy who says he's never has touched an apple product, nor would ever want to, yet try's to emulate one.
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Teelar said 7:53PM on 11-05-2005
I wish that guy would make one for MAC, too. Since Media Centers are hard to come by on our side.
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Victor Agreda, Jr. said 8:51PM on 11-05-2005
OK, I think Casey has had enough good-natured ribbing for one day.
Casey, you taught me something today. How easy it is to whip together something cool using WPF. MS has got some very cool stuff coming in the next year, so Apple better watch out.
FrontRow really isn't that much. It's a FrontEnd in fact, and would be useless without the pre-existing iApps. What's scary is this: if it took Casey just a short while to whip this up, what took Apple so long?
Keep up the good work Casey. Most of the developers I know aren't designers either ;)
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Pete M said 9:52PM on 11-05-2005
Hasn't anyone ever seen Windows Media Center Edition???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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fra said 10:00PM on 11-05-2005
No wonder MS users think Apple users are stuck up!
You're all being rude as hell and I for one do not like it.
If the dude does not wana touch a mac, power to them, if they don't want to, so be it.
IT does look like rubbish but its an experiment. Remember the first time Apple attempted to make an Unix version of their OS... it FLOPPED (this is WAY before the OSX days)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/UX
Even I know about that and I'm only 15 for dogs sake (I hate not swearing)
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