thanks for your patience.

I had not really understood RB .. (not sure I do now fully .. ) I NOW understand that the Frontmost App is not necessarily Active (responsive to an RB remote).

Isn't this against the standard interface model - a keyboard and mouse are used to first bring an App to the front then the act on it and then if desired to send an App to the background (bring another one to the front)?

If you made remote buddy act on the front App (only) then my idea makes sense .. it would be a lot simpler.. and as above to act on another app just bring it to the front (when selecting it in the menu or activates it if not open) and all is the same ..

If I still don't understand how it works .. then I'll leave my follow-up on this for a month or two when I do .. :)

cheers, 
chris