[t2ffn]

Hmm, think I've seen something like this before...


http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permali...t-released

[Hidd3nFury]

Wow, they make a bad rip-off of alaska and charge $10 to use it :/

[Livin]

that app does other things too... and it has been out for a log time. Rip-off is an interesting term since all UIs steal/borrow from others. I have yet to see a 100% original UI - there are only so many things you can do and have it still be usable.

[t2ffn]

I'd say it has stole/borrowed a little more than ideas, even down to the way the time is shown, but as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I'm not sure if Hitcher helped them with this, or even knew about it, but it would atleast be nice to have seen a comment on the site thanking Alaska / Hitcher for inspiration.

I'm interested in using Win 7 Media Centre for its TV PVR features, combined with a DVB-S2 dual tuner, but think I'll stick with the default theme.

[TheDuffMan]

There's a difference between common themes and blatantly trying to copy. Having the AM wording slightly less dark than the time shows not just borrowing ideas, but trying to copy.

[Livin]

guys that is how life works... people have great ideas, others use/steal/borrow and life goes on. I'm sure Hitcher will survive... not to mention that app probably only has 100 paying users, and is it not for the skin - I tried it once.

anyway... I use WMC7 for PVR & Live TV only and XBMC for everything else. I'm eagerly awaiting a time when XBMC can be the only app I need to run for all things media related.

[blaze]

guys that is how life works... people have great ideas, others use/steal/borrow and life goes on. I'm sure Hitcher will survive... not to mention that app probably only has 100 paying users, and is it not for the skin - I tried it once.

The point is more that it has ripped off the Alaska theme (at least the home screen...not sure about the rest), whether life still goes on or not isnt really the issue, they've still stolen the theme and given zero credit for it (in most cases, creators of apps or skin designers will give credit where necessary).

To make matters worse they're charging $10 for the privlidge

Not exactly behavour thats worth defending imo.

[Livin]

no one is defending anything... reality is this happens, and this is minor.

If you've used Win7 MCE and that UI there is no "privilege" in using it... at any price. You guys are making much ado about nothing.

you notice Hitcher case so much he has not even responded... move on.

[Rygrath]

That theme Pearl made by Soultaker has been in the works for awhile. Since the start he said it was heavily influenced by Alaska and even gives credit on his website http://www.manghera.com/portfolio/pearl.
to quote from the site

Codename: Pearl

I've been working on a personal theme project for myself codenamed pearl. For this theme I originally drew inspiration from the xbmc project, specifically the Alaska theme. In that vein I will be attempting to replicate the same for Media Browser.

Whether this ever becomes useful to anyone but myself I'm not entirely sure. I say this because power users may scough at the limited amount of detail. Only time will tell if I am successful or not...

So, pretty sure he didn't mean harm to anyone's work, just doing what a open source community does, borrows from existing ideas to craft something different.

As it was just said, it's flattering that they liked Alaska enough to have someone do the work and port it to another project with their own twist on it.

[t2ffn]

No need for arguments whether its good, bad or what, just thought I'd share what I stumbled across.