So right now I own a licensed copy of Konfabulator. Now that Tiger is coming out and has SIMILAR functionality built in. Do you think it is worth re-installing Konfabulator in Tiger, and disabling Konspose?
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Dashboard Vs. Konfabulator
- Thread starter tommy.hanks
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maya said:
umm they had been working on an app for windows for quite somet ime before dashboard was announced. so you can't say they were scared by dashboard and ran away. just so happens the release came about shortly after the same time as the dashboard announcement
maya
macrumors 68040
Logik said:
I don't buy that argument for one bit, trying to make an x86 version was in the plans, however it took quite a long time to have any alpha or beta version out until DB was announced and previewed. Something tells me that Konf developers were relaxed about Konf for Mac and thought that as long as there is no comparable or better type of widget application for the Mac they could coast with the PPC platform. However when Steve J, announced DB they decided to move quickly on the x86 platform since they future looks dark for the PPC.
Then again all this is yours and my opinion, only the developer know the truth. Then again think about it if you were in they shoes. 😉 🙂
maya said:
think about how long it would take to convert that code from Obj-c to C/C++ on the windows platform... seriously... it took a lot longer than 6 months to make a stable product out of that application. especially one that can work almost identically on both the mac and the pc.. that isn't an easy feat. give the guys credit, apple isn't always right, and don't be a silly billy fanboy. I love apple, but at the same time i realize they are full of **** sometimes too. i'd have to say that the K guys made A LOT of money on the windows port. i don't see why they wouldn't WANT to move to that platform. allt hey're competing with is ObjectDesktop or DesktopX or wahtever it's called and that isn't nearly as cool.
And you know the only reason apple's product is better with memory management issues is due to the fact that they had the ability to actually alter the code at the OS level, which 99% of all mac developers do not have access to. that's rather unfair if you ask me. You guys would cry bloody murder if Microsoft did this, however if apple does it it's ok.
stop being a fan boy and making mac users look stupid. thanks.
maya
macrumors 68040
Logik said:
For one I am not a fan-BOY. 🙄 Neither am I a Mac Zealot, however I like the look and feel of DB then Konf at present and my experiences with Konf were all ill at best. What surprises me is that why the developer didn't do a dual platform development or start on the x86 asap after the PPC release. 😕
Mitthrawnuruodo
Moderator emeritus
Well, I have already ditched Konfabulator, and haven't even seen or tried Dashboard. Konfabulator just took to much CPU and memory...
Untill I upgrade I use Meterologist and XRG, for just about everything I used Konfabulator to monitor, both of which is nice and doesn't use all my poor iBooks resources... 😉 (...altough I miss my UNIX clock/timestamp... 🙁)
(And I pulled out Stickies, I figured I could try getting used to it before I get Dashboard... 🙂)
Untill I upgrade I use Meterologist and XRG, for just about everything I used Konfabulator to monitor, both of which is nice and doesn't use all my poor iBooks resources... 😉 (...altough I miss my UNIX clock/timestamp... 🙁)
(And I pulled out Stickies, I figured I could try getting used to it before I get Dashboard... 🙂)
maya said:
they did, they had a developer who basically screwed them on the windows platform. then it took backseat. Arlo knows Obj-C and the mac.. he's not however so great at the whole windows thing. so someone else had to do it. they finally found a good developer who is now cranking out the windows stuff.
http://www2.konfabulator.com/journal/index.php?start=68&show=3
April 10, 2004
http://www2.konfabulator.com/journal/index.php?start=56&show=3
October 26, 2003
reading is fundamental.
broken_keyboard
macrumors 65816
They're not quite the same - Dashboard won't let you have things always showing, it is like a whole other mode.
XnavxeMiyyep
macrumors 65816
broken_keyboard said:
I think this is a feature. With Konfabulator, the widgets were always there, and it could become somewhat irritating.
Also Konfabulator ate all my Powermac's resources. It's a shame that it wasn't better; it was such a great idea. Now we'll have Dashboard though.
Konfabulator running: little memory e 0% processor!!!
I have the following widgets: Calendar, Internet Health Monitor and The Weather. They, together use 28MB and 0% processor. Well, actually they use 3% (for one second) of processor, every 5 minutes.
Learn how to use an app and be fair when criticizing it. Konfabulator does the job, and does well!
* Of course, I will use Dashboard if it suits my needs.
I have the following widgets: Calendar, Internet Health Monitor and The Weather. They, together use 28MB and 0% processor. Well, actually they use 3% (for one second) of processor, every 5 minutes.
Learn how to use an app and be fair when criticizing it. Konfabulator does the job, and does well!
* Of course, I will use Dashboard if it suits my needs.
thequicksilver
macrumors 6502a
I agree with above people that say that Konfabulator was a resource hog - this is why I never bothered to register it.
What I would say though is that while Dashboard is significantly less sluggish, in its current form (emphasis because more widgets will obviously come) Dashboard is about as gimmicky as it gets. That it doesn't offer the choice to keep things on the desktop is weak, in my opinion. The rationale for Dashboard is also a little beyond me. I'll explain why.
Let's say you always want access to your address book. In versions of OS X before Tiger, typically you'd have it open at startup, but close the window and keep the app running so it came up instantly later. When you want the Address Book again, click the Dock icon and it's up instantaneously.
With Tiger, you activate Dashboard by hitting F12 or move your cursor to whichever screen corner you have allotted it to. You open the Dashboard widget from the little widget dock thing. You then leave Dashboard behind, and go back whenever you want it.
What I'm trying to say, is that Dashboard's current aim - the Desk Accessory type widgets that Apple have been making for ages - are already there in the OS. This is merely another way of accessing them, which is no more efficient than what's already present in OS X. If you need a Calculator, Address Book etc all the time, they're already there and easy to manipulate via the Dock in 10.3 and below. Dictionary is also a new standalone app in 10.4.
Obviously Dashboard will evolve as more and more widgets get made for it, I can't help but feel that both Konfabulator and Dashboard are solutions for problems that aren't there. After a while with Tiger, I imagine I'll get to the same stage I did with Konfabulator and stop using the thing altogether.
While I see the reasons why Dashboard is better for developers (HTML, CSS etc), I don't feel it's worthy of the amount of coverage Apple are giving it.
EDIT - I also forgot to add one major usability problem with Dashboard - you can't close the widget without bringing up the little widget dock thing (only then does the X appear on the corner of them.) It sounds like the old joke about Windows - to shut down you have to press start. In Dashboard, you have to open the 'open widget' tray to be able to close one.
What I would say though is that while Dashboard is significantly less sluggish, in its current form (emphasis because more widgets will obviously come) Dashboard is about as gimmicky as it gets. That it doesn't offer the choice to keep things on the desktop is weak, in my opinion. The rationale for Dashboard is also a little beyond me. I'll explain why.
Let's say you always want access to your address book. In versions of OS X before Tiger, typically you'd have it open at startup, but close the window and keep the app running so it came up instantly later. When you want the Address Book again, click the Dock icon and it's up instantaneously.
With Tiger, you activate Dashboard by hitting F12 or move your cursor to whichever screen corner you have allotted it to. You open the Dashboard widget from the little widget dock thing. You then leave Dashboard behind, and go back whenever you want it.
What I'm trying to say, is that Dashboard's current aim - the Desk Accessory type widgets that Apple have been making for ages - are already there in the OS. This is merely another way of accessing them, which is no more efficient than what's already present in OS X. If you need a Calculator, Address Book etc all the time, they're already there and easy to manipulate via the Dock in 10.3 and below. Dictionary is also a new standalone app in 10.4.
Obviously Dashboard will evolve as more and more widgets get made for it, I can't help but feel that both Konfabulator and Dashboard are solutions for problems that aren't there. After a while with Tiger, I imagine I'll get to the same stage I did with Konfabulator and stop using the thing altogether.
While I see the reasons why Dashboard is better for developers (HTML, CSS etc), I don't feel it's worthy of the amount of coverage Apple are giving it.
EDIT - I also forgot to add one major usability problem with Dashboard - you can't close the widget without bringing up the little widget dock thing (only then does the X appear on the corner of them.) It sounds like the old joke about Windows - to shut down you have to press start. In Dashboard, you have to open the 'open widget' tray to be able to close one.
well let's explain this again since the moderators feel the need to delete valid posts.
The only reason Dashboard is faster or more lightweight than Konfabulator is because Apple has access to the actual core code.
Let's take for instance the additions made to WebKit to support "gadgets or widgets" or whatever apple is calling them now. The Konfabulator guys couldn't just alter WebKit to do this so they could have required things added into the javascript object list. They also couldn't just add another server on top of Aqua to fire off all these little objects. Given that the Konfabulator guys had to actually use other code than what was provided with OS X meant it's going to use up more memory. Sure there's probably lots of room for optimizing but in the end Apple has the advantage due to having the code right in front of them to alter as needed however they want.
Given what the Konfab guys had at their disposal they did a pretty good job with it.
As far as Arlo and team being extremely irrititated by Apple's product... You wouldn't be pissed off if Apple took your product and made it essentially worthless?
The only reason Dashboard is faster or more lightweight than Konfabulator is because Apple has access to the actual core code.
Let's take for instance the additions made to WebKit to support "gadgets or widgets" or whatever apple is calling them now. The Konfabulator guys couldn't just alter WebKit to do this so they could have required things added into the javascript object list. They also couldn't just add another server on top of Aqua to fire off all these little objects. Given that the Konfabulator guys had to actually use other code than what was provided with OS X meant it's going to use up more memory. Sure there's probably lots of room for optimizing but in the end Apple has the advantage due to having the code right in front of them to alter as needed however they want.
Given what the Konfab guys had at their disposal they did a pretty good job with it.
As far as Arlo and team being extremely irrititated by Apple's product... You wouldn't be pissed off if Apple took your product and made it essentially worthless?
~Shard~ said:
just pointing out that it was there once but was removed due to whatever they felt was their reasoning for removing it. pretty sad a valid post gets removed. removing me won't do a lot of good though since i answer more questions than i ask. What good would that really do for the board? I'm not particularly losing anything, though you'll all be losing someone who can answer some good questions on Tiger and the technologies under the hood. So who's loss is it?
~Shard~
macrumors P6
Logik said:
Just making a joke and having some fun - lighten up a little bit, no need to be so serious all the time! 😉 Plus, I feel your above points are valid, so I'm not disagreeing with you. (Whether I agree with the necessity for insults as you posted earlier is another matter...)
Nonetheless, can't we all just get along? 😎
edesignuk said:
Agreed. Thanks for being an attentive Mod, the Forum appreciates it. 😎
~Shard~ said:
sorry if you feel the insults were really insults. i was simplying saying think for yourselves and not blindly follow. pretty good advice no matter where you use it, particularly in life.
I'm not a konfab nutjob, or a dashboard lunatic. i'll be using dashboard on my powerbook, and i use konfab on my windows machine. so i'm not one sided here, i'm simply pointing out the facts of the matter and if that's really such a big deal i guess i'll stop, never realized that the truth in this case would harm so many people.
oh and i knew your post was a joke, i just simply wanted to point out my reasons for saying what i did there and you gave me the excuse to do it 😛
it just seems like on this board most people tend to say apple is in the right and they're always right. when in reality they just about ruined a small 3rd party developer that created a pretty cool little app that was different and evolutionary (note not REVOLUTIONARY, just evolutionary). They took an idea and created a really neat way to create small little applications. Apple did indeed steal that "idea" from them. The end result is a pretty similar product regardless of how you make the actual applications. Apple might not have created dashboard if it weren't for the konfab guys coming up with the idea that sparked dashboard. so give credit where credit is due. remember i said EVOLUTIONARY, meaning they took other ideas and the end result is an evolution of those ideas into a new very unique application. Apple's is no more an evolutionary app than konfab, and certainly isn't revolutionary either.
