I do hope the people who were so outraged about Microsoft ripping off Apple “innovations” – the Windows Vista interface, Microsoft Gadgets, etc. – are slamming Steve Jobs right now for Apple’s blatant (and frankly pretty lame) ripoff of Windows Media Center Edition, Front Row. After all the buzz earlier this year about what a cool media platform the Mac Mini would be, this is a big letdown.
Peter Near and Thomas Hawk both say, “Eh.” And Microsoft’s Charlie Owen has a similar first reaction:
Frankly, I’m underwhelmed — I really expected Apple to have much more to brag about, especially given their momentum with iPod over the last couple of years. Based on everything I’m seeing, Front Row doesn’t even have feature parity with the first version of Media Center released back in October 2002. No hint of a developer platform either — that’s a shame — I was really looking forward to dusting off my Mac coding skills again.
But don’t get me wrong — I do think this is a good thing. The halls here in Building 50 are buzzing with excitement (and yes, it’s positive excitement — we love this stuff). It’s classic Microsoft vs. Apple, and we haven’t really had that for a lonnnnnng time, and some of us miss that competition.
So, welcome back Apple, it’s good to see you again!
Yes, and the killer feature Charlie didn’t mention: There’s nothing from Apple that offers anything like the Media Center Extender.
It appears they’re going after the dorm room, not the living room.
[Cross Posted at Ed Bott’s Media Central]
Ed Bott 
To make it worse, Apple often gets it right the first time and doesn’t really break the mold after that. Microsoft is on their magical 3rd iteration of Media Center, and this Apple offering isn’t very impressive.
Unless either of them get direct digital cable (and HD cable) support, I think this PC-as-DVR idea will be even more of a niche product than it already is.
The main ui looks nice. Maybe they are saving the best stuff for leopard. 🙂
Why do all Microsoft evangelists get so worked up over Apple like this? Does it matter? NO! You’ve still got over 90% of the market.
I ask the same of Apple evangelists – why do they get so worked up (take Mighty Mouse, for example).
I work in IT. I’m a mac user at home, a windows user at work. They each serve their purpose just fine. There is more to life than apple and microsoft people! Try going outside and sitting in the sun..
It’s funny you say Apple ripped Microsoft, since I told myself the same thing the first time I saw the Microsoft Media center UI look and feel. Crap, they have ripped (or licensed) Cyberlink PowerCinema. See for yourself : http://www.gocyberlink.com/multi/products/main_12_ENU.html
To be perfectly frank, FrontRow and Media Center are a world apart – and I don’t actually think Apple are trying to compete. To start with, FrontRow isn’t on the mini – if they were truely aiming for the lounge, it would be on that first (given that it’s the most suitable mac for the lounge).
I think calling it a lame ripoff is a bit of a stretch though – I personally don’t see enough similarities between the two. Sadly, the same can’t really be said for the similarity between dashboard and gadgets.
At the end of the day however, both platforms win here – if the best features of both can be on the market, the end user gets the choice.
The link to Thomas Hawk is broken on both postings… anyway, I think it is a bad idea to dismiss it on feature count alone. Apple has managed to outdo everyone on music players even when they lacked many features others have. That said, I agree with the first comment, this thing desperately needs a TV Tuner of some soft… ABC (and maybe NBC) shows for $1.99 is not a substitute for this.
Link fixed. Thanks, Wes.
To Anon – the version of Cyberlink PowerCinema that emulates the MCE interface came after Windows media center was released, not before. Why is it that everytime someone actually copies Microsoft they assume the opposite?
After 20 years using the “innovation” argument or the “Apple did it first” argument is just getting old and repetitive. Who actually goes out and bases their buying decisions on stupid “who did what first” arguments? This is business not a track-n-field event. Being first is not all that important. Even in track-n-field leaving the starting line first doesn’t mean you’ll win the race.
Case in point, Apple dominates the portable digital music player market with the iPod and many people actually believe Apple invented that market. Apple was NOT the first to market and sell a portable music player. The Diamond RIO MP3 player was the first. Heck if you want to get nitpicky, Sony invented the Walkwalk back in the 70’s.