Yeah, I hope within the year to make the menu bar look less like Windows XP!

Amen! What the heck is up with the blue-bordered Apple Menu and spotlight menu? In most screen shots (Dashboard, Safari, etc) the Apple menu has not been uglified. In the Spotlight shots, it has. What the HELL has happened to Apple's minimalistic aesthetic sense these days?

I'm trying out a Tiger preview, and already it looks like the latest APE has major conflicts, including (but not limited to) not recognizing network connections, the dvd/cd drive and certain peripherals.

Konfabulator drives me half-mad. Too many things and nothing seems to be that cohesive and you need a separate monitor just to have all the items you choose showing.

If you want to read a fairly balanced look at the Konfabulator Dashboard bru ha ha go here...
http://daringfireball.net/

Sadder than the Dash vs Kon battle is the death of Watson in October... I'm not going to waste my money buying another license for a Java-based app owned by Sun. Goodbye Watson, Goodbye Karelia, hello custom widgets!

Arlo & Perry, not Arlo & Steve. But yeah, Dashboard is going to end up better than Konfabulator...less overhead and whatnot.

Doh! Must have been reading too much about the keynote and Steve Jobs when I made this entry... :)

Thanks for the correction.

In Jaguar, I used Liteswitch X to switch apps. Apple ripped off that program almost exactly, while simplifying it, of course. It's the same old story. It makes me angry. That is abusing power.

Did Apple ripp off Liteswitch? I maintain Apple did not.

First, Apple has had tab switching for a long time so that wasn't new and if we kept the launching open on the desktop in OS 9 we could see a visual representation of our switch.

Second when Apple first delivered OS X the tab switch was displayed in the dock. But the dock isn't a great way to do this because it displays programs that are running, programs that aren't running, files, folders, and whatever else is there. So in OS X we had tabbed switching and Apple supplied a visual of the switch. Just not a very elegant method. Still nothing stolen.

Third, when the makers of Liteswitch created their product they did something very smart. As I wrote in my congratulatory email to them: "You looked at tabbed switching and asked yourself how Apple would do it before the NeXT interlopers took over. Well, looks like you got it just right." Yep, Liteswitch was such a great little utility because it was an Apple solution.

So when you claim Apple copied Liteswitch, as far as I'm concerned you are saying Apple copied from itself. Or maybe you are suggesting that since Liteswitch did it the Apple way Apple should have done it the not Apple way?

dxtr,

I agree with the fact that Apple has "again" permanently borrowed yet another app. Too bad and yes it sucks. But, the fact remains for me that both apps make me half-mad with the screen real estate they devour. There is getting to be too much visual pollution in our world and now on our computer monitors. That's why I carefully select which ShapeShifter theme to use (ProLCD for me) for the very reasons I list above. I'll rarely, if ever, use Dashboard.

No, no no. Apple didn't copy Konfabulator. The idea for Mini-apps/Widgets/Gadgets has been around awhile and implemented in various manners. Read this and then decide for yourself:
Dashboard vs. Konfabulator

Should we be upset that Apple chose to make something similar and ultimately superior? Should Apple slow or halt their progress to be polite?

isn't spotlight stolen idea of launch bar? is tiger going to be a compilation of stolen ideas or what?!

Brain Warren,

Okay, I read the article and its arguments. I was around in 1984...also purchased my first Mac that year and have had one ever since. Information is disseminated in a myriad of ways and exponentially more so today. I would find it hard to believe that Apple employees' have not seen Konfabulator (and remember I think it is a pain-in-the-a## too as will be Dashboard) and in seeing Konfabulator have not been influenced by it. The reality that large corporations (of which I've worked for two very large multinational companies--one tech, one with tech as part of it and several other major divisions) it comes down to the how large companies can easily patent, copyright and trademark ideas. Apple can afford any legal battles and send an entire team to the Patent Office on a round-the-clock basis. MS can continue to release third-rate apps indefinitely or until their money runs out, all the while acquiring, or divesting smaller software companies "at-will" all day long. I am not defending Apple (they have more money than I do and a fleet of lawyers internally and on retainer), but to say Apple came up with the idea so long ago seems a stretch as every idea in world has been thought of before--its execution is what matters. Does Dashboard make a better OS? Better than or just like Konfabulator? Don't know, but what it will do is attract more potential Mac buyers. I liked Watson until Sherlock came along and even now I've long since stopped using either as they too are not as integrated as I prefer. So maybe all this eye candy is just that...eye candy?

However, I enjoyed the article and the website, that is now part of my bookmarks. Thanks to dxtr for the link.

oops on the link up there.

CREB - yes absolutely, Apple guys have seen Konfabulator. And yes they have lawyers. But you haven't convinced me that "Apple Stole the Idea"

So... Konfabulator really took the whole idea of desk accessories to a new level utilizing apple's quartz beauty. And apple's taking it the next step - making it a much better paradigm for developers, lower ram usage, good integration with the OS... but my word it still uses quartz and they look kinda the same! Good heavens!

You all know as well as I do - Mac OS X has built in "widgets" - the Clock can be a floating window, the CPU Usage thing from the Activity Monitor, Stickies, the Calculator, they all look like stuff you'd see in Konfabulator (Konfabulator ships with a clock widget - who stole from whom?)... I just don't get it, what did Apple steal? The idea that people could develop their own? Apple ships the developer tools with their system... anybody can develop an extra desk accessory/widget/gadget already. Konfabulator has made it easy, and now Apple is too.

Gotta run, quitting time!

Agreed re the daringfireball.net comments. The Konfabulator guy has his knickers in a knot, and needs to get the unknotted and stop snivelling.

Of course he has his knickers in a knot. Apple moved his cheese.

The same thing will (not -may-) happen to the Unsanity crew, just as it will happen to the developers of Butler, Launchbar, etc:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/spotlight.html

Where does this Launcher reside? Does this workflow look familiar, Butler and Launchbar people? I will bet that Spotlight has 'ranking settings' as well (apps first, contacts second, etc etc etc). Yeah, it looks ugly, but remember, Tiger is a loooong way away, and this UI will (probably) be changed. The whole 'glossy' look of the menu has me scared, so I hope there will be a Shapeshifter 2.0 + Smoothstripes rev. ;-)

That's not going to stop me from licensing LabelsX, Butler, or anything useful that I can micropay -now- (as I have done). Arlo's knickers are in a bind because he's following the Apple model of charging a premium for something of questionable value, and not budging.

I like that you won't find any 'sniveling' from our Unsanity friends. You can bet that when Tiger is released there will still be API / UI holes that need filling.. and I'll bet that Unsanity will be around to fill them.

even if apples does "rip off" products from time to time so what? I'm sure they have a chance at making them better and to have them run smooth with in there environment. i used to love Konfabulator but didn't want to pay for it (sorry makers of) because it was often crashing. the end.

Um...minor point on spotlight...it predates everything in Mac OS X. Apple was going to do this SAME thing with V-Twin in Copland. BeOS used this idea for all of its demos. (and oooh...the BeFS guy works for Apple now. Imagine that.)

Spotlight is, in design and implementation FAR more Apple's idea than anyone else's.

john