Mac developer looks to Windows to escape Tiger

With Apple Computer threatening to push his product aside, longtime Mac developer Arlo Rose has expanded his Konfabulator to Windows.

The program, which Rose has sold for $25, lets computers run a variety of small graphical programs, known as widgets, that show information such as stock quotes or the current weather on a Mac desktop. However, in June, Apple announced that it would offer a very similar capability, called Dashboard, in the next version of Mac OS X, code-named Tiger.

A Windows version was already in the works when Apple announced its plans for Dashboard, but the move made the PC option all the more important, said Rose, who once worked at Apple and now heads up a small company called Pixoria. He said the Windows version of Konfabulator will be available Monday.

"We're all diehard Macintosh developers here, but we recognize that Windows is the dominant platform," Rose said in a statement. "When you have a great idea, you want more than 2 percent of the global market to have access to it."

Rose said many of the 800 add-ons, or widgets, already created for Konfabulator will work on the Windows version as well as on Mac OS X.

When Apple announced its plans for Dashboard, Rose accused Apple of being a copycat, a charge the computer maker denied. Apple noted that the concept of widgets has long been a part of Mac OS X and its NextStep OS predecessor.

"The goal isn't to be like anything else," Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller said in a June interview. "It's not his stuff. What we've done is ours."

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Good Riddance, Konfabulator

by November 5, 2004 12:39 AM PST

Good Riddance, Konfabulator

Your arguments were all Konfabulated. You didn't realize Apple
did this first. And you whined and groaned when they stepped
all over you in the marketplace. Wanna make a real difference?
Join the movements that really matter and learn to compete with
the wolves you take on in the world.

No pity for you.

Like this Reply to this comment

Don't let the door hit ya on the way out

by November 5, 2004 8:22 AM PST

Don't let the door hit ya on the way out

I have tried to like Roses' products, I really have. i tried
Konfabulator. It just sucked. A slow resource hog. Watson was
much better, faster and more elegant. So, as is typical in our
country today, competition is not to be tolerated. First this
clown cried "unfair" and then when it was pointed out by early
developers of Mac software that Rose himself copied the idea for
his Konfabulator he stoped whinning. But the real sign that he
is a girly man comes with his switch to windows. Why? Because
he can copy someone else's idea to make a buck, but cannot
compete with Apple by making his product better (and let me
tell you there are many who will tell you this software was poorly
written). That is why we outsource Rose's work to India. They
still have capitalism in their blood. Rose! Move out of your
mom's house and make a better cheaper product if you want my
business, or just port your shoddy software to windows. Either
way, you have to earn my dollar if you want it. You haven't
earned it yet by a long shot.

Like this Reply to this comment

Time to break up Apple

by November 5, 2004 10:09 AM PST

Time to break up Apple

They have a stronger stranglehold on their OS market than MS. I say whats good for the goose...

Like this Reply to this comment

Konfabulator... nothing new!

by November 5, 2004 10:40 PM PST

Konfabulator... nothing new!

Hi there,

I don't know what is the news about this application?

This kind of applications already exist already a long time for the Windows platform.

For instance: Desktop-X and Ave Desk.

Both these application can do a lot more and Ave Desk is also free.

Desktop-X costs money, but is very powerfull.

Konfabulator is light years behind and nothing new.

All this news for it.. it doesn't deserve it.

Like this Reply to this comment

Sorry Desktop Widgets for Windows already exists

by zeroplane November 8, 2004 3:26 PM PST

Sorry Desktop Widgets for Windows already exists

Has existed for over 5+ years.

http://www.stardock.com/products/desktopx/

I wouldn't waist my time with a group of Mac programmers trying to program in Windows. Viable alternatives already exist and have been in development for more years than the whole company has existed.

Like this Reply to this comment

they just have lack of ideals

by January 18, 2005 7:34 AM PST

they just have lack of ideals

easyly instead of making add-ons and stuff like that just to change the themes from windows, why they dont make their software compatible with normal PC´s?????

Of course that MAC PC build would give better performance of the OS, but IF it was compatible with all intel & amd, they would get much more profite of instead making a theme version to be apllied on normal windows systems

Like this Reply to this comment

Borland was first

by June 19, 2005 2:39 AM PDT

Borland was first

The concept of a multi-faceted utility that pops up on a keystroke dates back to Borland Sidekick in the pre-GUI days of 8086 PCs. The open-endedness of adding new widgets (and of course the net connectivity of widgets) is the innovation here.

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Good Riddance, Konfabulator

Your arguments were all Konfabulated. You didn't realize Apple
did this first. And you whined and groaned when they stepped
all over you in the marketplace. Wanna make a real difference?
Join the movements that really matter and learn to compete with
the wolves you take on in the world.

No pity for you.

Don't let the door hit ya on the way out

I have tried to like Roses' products, I really have. i tried
Konfabulator. It just sucked. A slow resource hog. Watson was
much better, faster and more elegant. So, as is typical in our
country today, competition is not to be tolerated. First this
clown cried "unfair" and then when it was pointed out by early
developers of Mac software that Rose himself copied the idea for
his Konfabulator he stoped whinning. But the real sign that he
is a girly man comes with his switch to windows. Why? Because
he can copy someone else's idea to make a buck, but cannot
compete with Apple by making his product better (and let me
tell you there are many who will tell you this software was poorly
written). That is why we outsource Rose's work to India. They
still have capitalism in their blood. Rose! Move out of your
mom's house and make a better cheaper product if you want my
business, or just port your shoddy software to windows. Either
way, you have to earn my dollar if you want it. You haven't
earned it yet by a long shot.

Time to break up Apple

They have a stronger stranglehold on their OS market than MS. I say whats good for the goose...

Konfabulator... nothing new!

Hi there,

I don't know what is the news about this application?

This kind of applications already exist already a long time for the Windows platform.

For instance: Desktop-X and Ave Desk.

Both these application can do a lot more and Ave Desk is also free.

Desktop-X costs money, but is very powerfull.

Konfabulator is light years behind and nothing new.

All this news for it.. it doesn't deserve it.

[zeroplane]

Sorry Desktop Widgets for Windows already exists

Has existed for over 5+ years.

http://www.stardock.com/products/desktopx/

I wouldn't waist my time with a group of Mac programmers trying to program in Windows. Viable alternatives already exist and have been in development for more years than the whole company has existed.

they just have lack of ideals

easyly instead of making add-ons and stuff like that just to change the themes from windows, why they dont make their software compatible with normal PC´s?????

Of course that MAC PC build would give better performance of the OS, but IF it was compatible with all intel & amd, they would get much more profite of instead making a theme version to be apllied on normal windows systems

Borland was first

The concept of a multi-faceted utility that pops up on a keystroke dates back to Borland Sidekick in the pre-GUI days of 8086 PCs. The open-endedness of adding new widgets (and of course the net connectivity of widgets) is the innovation here.