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Frontend Theories (Not a new project)
My goal here is to get an idea of what the community really needs from a working Mac mini frontend.
Being a Mac Mini user as other on this board, there is a huge problem of unfinished front ends, there have been dozens of requests for completion of any one of them.
It seems like many of the projects die under bloat from trying to integrate lots of "cool features" or try to do everything from the start.
Just because you "can" doesn't necessarily mean you should.
I like many others just end up running Front Row, why? because it actually plays the music and integrates with iTunes.
Compare FrontRow to many of the HTPC frontends out there.
It does only four things.. Play Music, Play Movies, Play DVDs and Display Photos.
In the car I really need Music, Video, Photos and GPS.
All other features are extras that I won't use 90% of the time.
Music can be FM radio, iTunes, XM, Streaming, Podcasts, etc...
Video can be DVD's, Video files, IPTV, Tuner, etc...
GPS can be real-time, navigation, regional search
While you won't be viewing photos on the road, your passengers probably will.
All other functions could be done with optional add-ons or plug-ins.
I am not trying to start a whole new project, but trying to inspire some of the others out there to re-think how they are approaching Frontend software.
Start small, and basic, and expand from there.
Comments?
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