For the past few days, the blogging world has been abuzz with that “dashboardadvisoryd” thing. Indeed, it seems Mac OS X v. 10.4.7 contacts Apple’s servers ever eight or so hours and ensures you did not inadvertently download a malicious widget. This, however, raises a great many grave questions.
Contrary to what one might think, I am not outraged by Apple’s decision to phone home. Do I like applications calling home without telling their users? Absolutely not. I can however understand the reasons that motivated this choice and, while I believe it to be a PR blunder of ignominious proportions, I’m sure it’ll be an easy fix for 10.4.8, much like that iTunes problem we had a few weeks ago was. Engineers come with good intentions and that is what matter. They scratched their heads to improve security and they deserve applause for that.
No, what worries me is that we have, basically, re-invented anti-virus systems: provide “signatures” for rogue applications, perform a check against a known database and raise a red flag when the check returns positive. That, essentially, means one thing: there is no way to prevent damage (or, at least, one has renounced) so one relies on the next best thing, that is checking after the damage is done. The virtual equivalent of the difference between a condom and emergency “day-after” medication.
Since its inception, Dashboard has been a security nightmare. For starters, its implementation was approximate at best, placing files in hidden folders and providing no easy un-installers. Of course, to us “geeks”, the files are easy to find but one has to keep in mind most users have no idea what the “Library” folders are for. Then, there were these questions about being allowed to override Apple widgets, the difficulty of knowing what, exactly was installed and the auto-install feature that surprised many a user. Sure, there were technical explanations for all these faults and sure they were corrected but still, one should not have unleashed a whole new layer of what, basically are full-featured applications, all the while implying they are fun and harmless. It was a bad decision from the start, if Apple has ever made one.
Funnily enough, I know of no people using Dashboard. Downloading and installing widgets like there is no tomorrow? Yes. The interfaces are lickable and many of them provide fun or marginally useful features that are tempting at first. Yet, the slow loading times, lack of integration with the rest of the operating system and awkward interface (see above) mean many people who praise Dashboard simply never use it. (And yes, I am sure millions of people around the world do use Dashboard for real on a daily basis too, I just don’t happen to know any of them.)
Is it time to retire Dashboard? My personal incline would be to say yes, at least in its current form. Obviously, Dashboard is here to stay and Apple will not pull one of the operating system’s major features a year after its release (look at Sherlock, it is still here*). Yet, Dashboard, despite its marginal added benefit, has been at the heart of countless issues, confusions and controversies. The idea is interesting but it has just been made into something it is not and that is the saddest part of it all.
As many users of the community have pointed out, Apple could hire a small (large? huge?) team and have a similar system in place for every application on the platform. .Mac Virex anyone?
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* Sherlock, I love you.
I use 5 widgets everyday - BBC weather forecast, UK traffic warnings, UK train time indicators, BBC radio, image/window capture - and the beauty of it all is it is so easy. I have another 6 widgets loaded that I use less frequently but worth it just for ease of access.
Only issue is that there are so many now it is hard to keep track of better ones.
Ttcrooks,
Thanks for sharing!
FJ
I never used Dashboard until I mapped it to a hot corner in the bottom right of my screen. Now I use it all the time. Half of the time for utilities: calculator, translator, stopwatch, etc. Half of the time for at-a-glance stuff: Netflix, weather, lyrics, etc. So I'd like to see Apple work everything out in 10.4.x and give us a solid Dashboard 2 in 10.5.
I like dashboard for a small handful of things (what's the temperature outside, etc.), but I'd like it better if I could turn it off or disable it all together. I have a problem with applications that run whether I like it or not.
I seriously doubt they are using the daemon to run a check for bad widgets. It's far more likely that it checks for updates to the Apple-provided widgets. Until 10.4.7 updates to the widgets were rolled up into system updates. By providing a seperate mechanism to check for widget updates, they can be updated with more frequency than the OS. Since most of the widgets rely on webservices, they are more likely to have changes to fix breaks caused by URL changes & thus need a more flexible update schedule than the OS.
Love it! - with a big fat wet kiss; even raising my leg!
Use it to check out artwork from around the world, come up with color schemes, check weather, check web service feeds, print one-off envelopes, read Dilbert, search through StickyBrain, lookup phone numbers, check fonts, take various screen shots, calculations, ftp files....all available at the tap of a Mighty Mouse nipple. No bringing up a browser...
"... Dashboard has been a security nightmare. For starters, its implementation was approximate at best, placing files in hidden folders and providing no easy un-installers...the difficulty of knowing what, exactly was installed..."
All your security concerns apply to ANY software one downloads and installs on their Mac. Users see something on VersionTracker with 2+ stars or mentioned in a column, by a person they wouldn't know from Adam, then download and install away....WaHoooo! Here's my Admin Username and Password. Have your way with my Mac! It's free! Who cares where it came from or who made it?!
Actually, I've never had a Widget ask for my Admin Username and password since it goes into my Home Directory (I don't run as admin and am always leery of putting software on my Mac..).
I dig Dashboard, it makes my life easier.
This post seems a little off-base-bandwagonAppleBashing, to say the list. Every mac owner (save one) that I know of uses widgets to grab quick tidbits of info (beats the tar out of launching a web browser and keying in a site). Sure, I miss Watson a lot, but widgets perform a slightly different set of tasks for me, anyway.
I personally use about 5 widgets multiple times in a day (in ranked order: calculator, notepad, dobedo, weather, iCal). I use another 4 about once every other day (stocks, unit converter, dictionary, IPLookup, gandreas' solar widget).
Most importantly, my favorite widget of all time is the hula girl widget!! Whimsical fun, indeed!
For those who are annoyed by the first-time-load delay, get Dashboard Kickstart.
I have downloaded tons of widgets (from Apple's site) to try them out, removed them without a problem and not once had a security leak (yes, I monitor my logs on a regular basis).
I find that widgets provide that extra bit of functionality that a pen&paper next to your computer used to provide... A place to jot quick notes, perform a quick calculation without interrupting your workflow and tiling windows all over each other. I keep my company address in the notepad widget now for reference (as opposed to taping my biz card next to the phone). I love "dobedo" for a quick "what should I be doing now" status check. Slothcam is it's own bit of fun, and the IPLookup can be useful for figuring out where the skiddies are pinging me from.
Sure, there is always room for improvement, but widgets are darn functional *today* and darn stable to boot. I'd like to see widgets notify me of updates and bug-fixes. I'd like to see widget designers more conscious of screen space restrictions. I'd like to see widgets *not* take up 20MB of memory for no reason. And I'd like to be able to find new and useful widgets faster than Apple's web site.
On the flip side, what has the ultimate in insecurity, Microsloth, given the user community? The best I could find for XP is Rainlender--a shareware background desktop calendar that can sync to iCalendar files. If you're worried about widget security, just browsing the web with Exploiter on XP is enough to make one's computer crawl with nasties.
daddydoodaa's right that the security issues you're arguing about in Spotlight are relevant to the operating system as a whole. Now, that said, fire up Keychain Access, go to the System Keychain, and notice the warning Keychain Access provides about the Dashboard Advisory certificate!
I use Dashboard every day, constantly - and with no ill will toward it. It's become as much a part of my computing experience as Expose has - granted, I don't have very high expectations of the 'widgets' concept, but I've gotten more than I could've ever asked for in usefulness from them. It's exactly as Red described above - it's like having a pen and paper next to your computer. They do what they do, and they don't bother you otherwise. They're not a separate task or application for you, and they don't require you to take your mind off of what you're really doing. I have 10 sticky notes open on my dashboard right now - that's just fantastic, in my mind. Dashboard provides the "desk-like" functionality to complete my experience, and gives it to me whether I'm in a coffee shop or really at my desk.
The Hula Girl widget is a classic, by the way. I hacked mine, though, to always open with Jesus instead. (I'm an assistant kids' pastor at a church.)
I used to have quite a few Widgets but they just ate up memory. On an eMac w/ only 512MB, burning up 100MB was easy. Now I've reduced it to just two widgets that I use occasionally.
I like the idea but there's just too much memory being used for it. I also hate how long it takes for Dashboard to load when first called; I tried an auto-start script but it crashed too often.
Personally, I would rather use my widgets in Opera vs. Dashboard because they are always visible (if I want) and I can actually make them go away by closing Opera.
I use Dashboard for things I want access to quickly like 4-5 post it notes with quick notes, clocks for here and there, calendar, calculator. I like the ability to get there and do something and then quickly hide it again.
All,
Thanks for sharing! Just to clarify a point, I have no intention to bash Apple in any way here (as I said, I do applaud the engineers). I do think however that Dashboard was not introduced with the proper warnings, something Apple acknowledged and started correcting a little while ago in its marketing litterature.
FJ
Dashboard still has a few kinks to iron out (load times are a big one), but I think it is still a useful feature as it stands and is definitely wirth keeping around. I use it daily.
I recently wrote this article on my blog asking why we feel that Apple should integrate so many features into the OS. I find this especially interesting since many of the "features" people suggest are secondary to core OS functionality. Also, many times there are already 3rd party solutions (i.e. Konfabulator) that perform the job and those can be installed at the option of the user who wants or needs that feature. Why "bloat" the OS and force features on those who don't care. For sure Widgets can enhance a user experience, but they don't really make the FInder more useful.
I use weather, thesaurus, currency converter, and calculator and they do a fine job :) I think if you use the dashboard as intended - a bunch of little things you might have laying around your desk, then it is a great tool. I think it would be fair to guess that they upgrade it in some way for Leopard.
I use dashboard every day. I am constantly oepning it to use the calculator, converter, itunes, address book etc. It is the best feature in 10.4. Better than spotlight, automator and H.264 put together.
It's pretty typical of the militant wing of Mac Fandom for someone to accuse you of bashing Apple when all you're doing is saying you don't like a feature in OS X.
Although I can see why people think it's cool I've always thought Dashboard a complete waste of time and effort. I mean, desk accessories went west for a reason eh ?
The first startup item that runs on my system is my dashboard killer ;-)
The industry (Apple, Yahoo, Opera, Typepad, Firefox) seems to be telling me that I *need* widgets - they're everywhere!I use weather and calculator every so often. But other than that, I don't find widgets terribly useful. Yahoo/Konfabulator seems a bit more useful to me because you have the option of putting them on your desktop, always on top, or on the hidden layer. That sems more flexible than Dashboard. I put a semi-transparant clock always on top, calendar and weather on the desktop, and everything else on the hidden layer.
Sherlock is still around?
I use very few widgets (though I have a number of them installed)... however, I can't live without the World Clock set to Tokyo time, Ambrosia's Easy Envelopes, and the Weather widget.
Dashboard is really confusing for novice users.
I wish it was an optional install.
I'll never use the dashboard on my laptop. They take way too long to load and I can get to all the information or features they would provide much faster through other routes. The only way I see it being used/useful is pherhaps on a desktop Mac having the dashboard come up as a screensaver. But besides that I think they really dropped the ball with the Dashboard, as its nothing more than just a novelty item to every mac user I know. (like in the article, I'm sure there are people that use it @comment 1, but I don't know anyone)
I prefer Konfabulator, with its always visible on the Desktop widgets, even though they take up space. They are also easier to configure through the Konfabulator Menu.
"The interfaces are lickable and many of them provide fun or marginally useful "
Why would I want to lick an interface?
I have dashboard installed and never use it. It was cute and seemed useful, but it isn't. How do I get read of it? Also, I think I have some malware on my system that is sending out spam, but don't know how to find it. Advice?