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Weblog:   Cupertino, start your photocopiers!
Subject:   hmm, it does all look very familiar
Date:   2004-06-29 07:03:00
From:   thomasoniii
Response to: hmm, it does all look very familiar

"...that it feels like an overall benefit to the Mac user..."


As a Macintosh user, I agree with this wholeheartedly. It just seems better to include the functionality with the OS. Apple can ensure it works properly, hopefully it'll be even more solid, everyone always gets it so developing widgets reaches a broader audience, and we all get added functionality.


HOWEVER, as a Macintosh -developer-, I hate it when Apple does stuff like this. The guys that wrote Konfabulator (and yeah, the concept isn't original, but they're the Big Dog of Mac widget tech lately and Apple obviously pointed to konfabulator as the thing to copy) did a bang up job. And they make money off of it. And it's a good product.


And now it's tougher for them to compete because apple has duplicated the functionality and bundled it for free. Same sort of thing that pisses off people about Microsoft and their little OS.


So as a mac developer, there's always the fear in the back of your head that if you come out with something really truly great that apple'll just duplicate it and bump you out of business. Look at what happened to Watson. Not a good message to send to your developers.


If Apple contacted the developers of such apps first and initially tried to license it or buy them out, then I'd be much less annoyed (and I can't say for sure if they didn't). But as is? Boo.
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  • hmm, it does all look very familiar
    2004-06-29 07:20:32  GJJ [Reply | View]

    You hear these stories from Mac Developers ALL THE TIME... especially with OSX where the developers seem at war with Apple in implementing features that Apple initially chooses to ignore but that users clamor for.

    I often wonder why they continue to develop on the platform or at least why they don't band together and fight back.
    • hmm, it does all look very familiar
      2004-06-29 07:45:58  jshell [Reply | View]

      One of Arlo Rose's early claims to fame, long before Konfabulator, was an extension to Mac OS 7.x called "Aaron". What Aaron did was copy the default Copland interface (aka 'Platinum') from the then-planned Mac OS 8. It was a straight up copy.

      In fact, by announcing details of upcoming OS features early, there are often a lot of cheap imitations made of the new features before they go the real release comes out. The game goes both ways.

      I would like to see Apple defend their position on 'Dashboard', but it seems to be a better implementation of a system that (to me) has proven to be primarily about cute little meaningless widgets whose novelty wore off in a couple of weeks. What I've seen Apple's implementation do has been more impressive - the one key transition to/from a widget desktop (a feature Konfabulator didn't have until yesterday); the Dashboard's 'Dock' from which different widgets can be launched and managed.

      And for all the little whining going on about Konfabulator, not once have I seen anyone mention the simpler but similar Stattoo.
      • hmm, it does all look very familiar
        2004-07-07 15:51:50  robbbeal [Reply | View]

        Jason,

        Stattoo isn't tied to the OS!

        http://www.usercreations.com/weblog/2004/07/06.html#a609

        Robb
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