Maybe, just maybe Dashboard was not a priority at the release of 10.0, 10.1, 10.2 and 10.4.
Has nothing to do with how cool and useful something is or was, it had to do with if the base work was ready and it was not. Safari was a starting point for widget implementation.
And we all know that if not done right, widgets can be a system hog *cough* Konf *cough*
So what is your excuse for "Automator." Oh I am sorry Apple introduced it just because it "cool."
Automator, is only the beginning of what its true purpose is meant for, server end.