Widget wars: thoughts on the Konfabulator-Dashboard brouhaha
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jul 5, 2004 at 11:20pm
The Konfabulator-Dashboard issue is a public relations nightmare for Apple. The company should have seen it coming and did nothing to diffuse it (couldn’t they have at least considered using another term besides “widgets”?). However, after culling through all the info I can get my hands on and speaking to some industry folks, I’ve concluded that there are enough differences between the two utilities that Apple’s biggest snafu is exhibiting a major lack of tact.
In case you aren’t familiar with the issue, let me recap: at last week’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple showcased Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), which has a feature called Dashboard. It’s a semi-transparent layer that zooms across your Desktop with a single button click, similar to the way Expos—introduced with Mac OS X 10.3 (“Panther”)—works. Dashboard, as explained by Apple, “is home to a new kind of application called Widgets,” which are “are mini-applications written in JavaScript” and “designed for fun as well as function.”
Konfabulator is a US$25 application developed by Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke that that lets you run small files, called (yep) Widgets, which can perform a variety of tasks. Rose claims that Apple simply snagged the Konfabulator look and implementation and turned it into Dashboard. In fact, a note on the Konfabulator Web site says: “Cupertino, start your photocopiers! Why wait ‘till the ‘first half of 2005’ when you can get the original Dashboard now?” It’s a dig at Apple’s WWDC poster that proclaimed “Redmond, start your photocopiers” and which implied that the next major version of Windows (dubbed Longhorn) will doubtless copy many of Tiger’s features.
On the other hand, Apple says Dashboard is their own original creation and that Widgets were part of NextStep, the operating system that helped “father” Mac OS X.
“It’s insulting, is what it is,” Rose (a former Apple human interface designer) said in a telephone interview with CNET. He and Clarke released Konfabulator in February 2003. “They could have at least offered to work with us or to buy it.” He added that Apple would alienate developers with moves such as this. “Why should developers want to work on their platform?”
However, despite the obvious surface similarities, there are major differences between Dashboard and Konfabulator. As John Gruber elaborated on at length in his “Daring Fireball” blog and Gene Steinberg mentioned in his “Mac Night Owl” column, the concept of mini apps goes back to the Desk Accessories of the classic (pre-Mac OS X) operating system and were unveiled in 1984. They were conceived by Bud Tribble and mainly engineered by Andy Hertzfeld. So Apple, as they see it, may simply be bringing back Desk Accessories in the form of the Dashboard.
“What sets Konfabulator apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of Apples Quartz rendering. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders,” Gruber writes. “Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home in Mac OS X The crux is that what makes Konfabulator stand out is that its widgets look ‘right at home in Mac OS X.’ But is it any wonder that Apples Dashboard gadgets look ‘right at home’ on Mac OS X, too?
What’s more, Dashboard Widgets are apparently differently than Konfabulator Widgets and supposedly consume fewer system resources. Gruber notes that Konfabulator contains its own self-contained JavaScript runtime engine, based on SpiderMonkey, the open source JavaScript engine from the Mozilla Project. Konfabulator UI layouts are specified in a custom XML format. “Dashboard, on the other hand, is based on WebCore, the underlying open source layout and scripting engine behind Safari,” he explains. “Dashboard gadgets are indeed scripted using JavaScript, the same language used by Konfabulator, but Dashboard uses the JavaScript engine thats built into the system. And for UI layout, Dashboard gadgets are specified using HTML and CSS—using the same rendering engine as Safari.”
Simon Willison, a UK Web developer, has this to say about Dashboard in his “HTML escapes the browser” blog: “What’s really exciting about Dashboard is the way widgets are written. Unlike Konfabulator, where widget layouts are defined using a simple XML dialect, Dashboard widgets are written in HTML and CSS and rendered using Safari’s WebKit engine! They’re essentially mini-web pages, liberated from the browser.”
As I see it, Apple was obviously “inspired” by the look of Konfabulator, but the basic idea of mini-apps is nothing new. What’s more, I think that Dashboard has been on the drawing board for some time. It also offers developers hopefully, including Rose and Clarke the opportunity to make complimentary Widgets (though Apple has called them Gadgets in some documents). Developers can look at current applications and offer to make complimentary gadgets to enhance them. And someone will, hopefully, make a tool to simplify the creation of Widgets/Gadgets. As one developer told me, “Apple’s announcement makes me excited to see that they may have done a lot of the work for me. Now I just need to make gadgets.”
Still, it would have been nice of the company to acknowledge Rose and Clarke’s design work and at least give ‘em a heads-up that Dashboard was coming. But the world of software development is a brutal one, especially when you’re developing features that tweak and/or enhance the look and functionality of Mac OS X itself. Anything that Apple can do to enhance the operating system can and should be done. Still, this can be done without stepping on the toes of folks such as Rose and Clarke. Apple developers and Apple itself should be partners, not adversaries. And does the company really need this sort of bad PR at any time especially during a week that highlights Apple developers?
Of course, not everyone agrees with my prognosis or that of Gruber or Steinberg. In a MacNet editorial, John Manzione writes: “As a user and supporter of Konfabulator I was quite surprised to see Apple emulate it in Dashboard, one of Apples new features in Mac OS X Tiger. That is until I remembered the Watson/Sherlock incident. However, it was only when I heard Steve Jobs use the term Widgets did I come to realize this was no ordinary rip-off. This was personal; it had to be. Arlo Rose used to work for Apple, in the HID division, and was a big player in the development of the Appearance Manager. Mr. Rose has an understanding of Apples operating system that is quite remarkable. Mr. Rose left Apple of his own volition, but it seems that there has been some animosity, at least on Apples part, in his leaving I dont know enough about Dashboard to state that it is in fact Konfabulator under a new name. But you dont have to be a software developer to know when an application has been ripped off. There are enough similarities between the two (not the mention both apps called their applets Widgets) to recognize that Apple decided it liked Konfabulator a little too much.”
An iGeek blog says: “Dashboard is a decent rip-off of Konfabulator with a few improvements; like it uses webkit, has better visuals, and allows you to show and hide. (Konfabulator added a show/opaque function after Apple did, but no hide/go-away). Technically, it is a bit different, in that the renderer is richer (supports HTML+CSS+JS), so it is richer and better in that area. But those are better implementation details; the scope and functionality is very similar This isn’t the first time Apple stole others ideas; there was Watson/Sherlock, dozens of things in System 7, and so on. But in the past, Apple generally at least talked to the people they were stealing from, and tried to buy or integrate I realize Apple’s Dashboard code is all theirs (they rewrote everything), and they only ripped off the idea. If they extended or broadened the ideas, they might have an excuse, ‘we like the concept, but needed the technology to be a little different, so we took the loose idea and extended it.’ But Apple hasn’t done much to extend the ideas; which makes them look like unimaginative crooks, instead of contributing something to the world.”
Jason O’Grady, at his PowerPage site, lists four different Tiger features that “maul” software developers: Dashboard, Spotlight (“looks a lot like LaunchBar”), Automator (“essentially kills macro applications like QuicKeys and Keyboard Maestro”) and Safari RSS (which bumps up against apps such as NetNewsWire).
What’s your take? Is Apple dissing its developers with features such as Dashboard? Or is the company simply making prudent moves to make a good product (Mac OS X) even better? Drop me an e-mail at
J. Scott Anderson Says:
I’ll skip the Konfabulator bit here and move right to Spotlight. First, how is any application to avoid “looking a lot like” if every application follows the user interface design guidelines? What does LaunchBar offer that wasn’t already done by Apple in the past and then brought back to OS X now? Have we not all been clamoring for Apple to please bring back many of our beloved and sorely missed OS 9 features? So, Apple combines V-Twin, their old Help technology but with a different highlight approach, and a window to display results?
I think the comment on the old Help technology might need a bit of explaining for those who are not familiar with it. Apple used to have a nice Help function that would lead you through doing an action like changing printers by moving you through the process step-by-step. Instead of a “spotlight” to highlight the desired function, they used a very cool effect that emulated a red marker circling the place to click.
I have heard no complaints from the LaunchBar guys nor the RSS reader guys. The only complaints have come from the Konfabulator guys. While I understand their concern about their revenue stream, I do not believe that they have a case. Apple took an old idea from their Classic/NeXT technologies and combined it with a modern “web services” approach to give us access to tools (whatever you call them) to give us Dashboard. That is a good move on their part.
Posted on July 06, 2004
Dylan Says:
Personally, I’m missing the debate here. Konfabulator, while clearly the inspiration for Dashboard, is a $25 program that reaches a limited number of individuals. You basically have to know of its exsistence in order purchase it. Dashboard will ship to the masses and make using OSX easier for millions of people who never have even heard of Konfabulator. And call me crazy, but there are very few ‘new’ ideas when it comes to programs, operating systems, etc. You can dress them up in fancy new clothes and give then better performance, but the basic idea is really not much different than 20 years ago. So it seems to me that the real question or issue isn’t if Apple stole the intellectual idea, it’s whether or not they made it better! That’s the important part and I’ll withhold judgement until Tiger ships to answer that for myself.
Posted on July 06, 2004
Jim Polaski Says:
Apple had “desktop accessories” which were very similar to Konfabulator in purpose and presumabley when Arlo Rose worked for Apple.
Then he writes Konfabulator(which is like “desktop accessories, but no one at Apple complains about that!).Apple morphs “desktop accessories” into Dashboard and now Rose is howling.
Somehow it seems he was standing in line at the copier before Apple, if you want to call it that.
Posted on July 06, 2004
sandifop Says:
A quick question: did Microsoft pay ¿Dartsmouth? (I can’t remember which University did Mozaic) for creating an HTML rendering web browser? To me, IE and Netscape had much more in common than Konfab and Dashboard.
I’m slowly giving up on shareware vendors. They don’t keep faith with their clients and whine when something competes in their space. Watson’s developer took my money, then Sun’s money, and left people with rotting code. Karelia et.al. whine when there is an apparent trespass but are even more faithless in their actions.
They are doing more damage by whining and abandoning instead of refining and developing.
Posted on July 06, 2004
Frank Petrie Says:
At first, I was not amused. But after reading various histories (including the fact that MS tried to embed a similar feature into Windows several years back) I have to say that I believe the issue is more about Arlo, et al. being pissed off.
If Arlo could prove that he and his partner originated the concept, then they’re right to be angered. But in the light of fact, there task is not to whine but out-"widget" Apple.
Posted on July 06, 2004
Michael Says:
um, how about the fact that Apple used the term “widget” way before Konfabulator came around? Jobs actually wrote back an email saying that he doesn’t understand the whole issue when Apple used the term “widget” with respect to the desk accessories in the first place. Just look that word up on Apple!
Posted on July 06, 2004
BRM Says:
Arlo is definitely getting a lot of press maybe that’s what he wants… People in development know that Konfabulator is not an unique idea.
We’ve had DeskAccessories and TSR’s providing all sorts of helpful functions.
Stop crying about using an old idea and sprucing it up by using Apple’s interface to made it look neat!
Lead, follow or get the h*ll out of the way!
Posted on July 06, 2004
Roger Harris Says:
I don’t think there is any blame in the Konfabulator and Spotlight issues. I even read a blurb that Arlo thought he sounded like a nut when reading the the interview when and as it was presented. Interviewers shape interviews and stir the pot; And Arlo had also just been caught by surprise.
As for Apple not giving a “heads up”, I think that having a year to sail what you have while refitting the ship is a good heads up. I have never seen anyone fired or laid off that got a year to refocus. Some of these new system assets should have been in the OS a long time ago. The need for Quick Keys and LaunchBar should have been eliminated in the old OS.
Posted on July 06, 2004
Israel Unger Says:
I’ve been using Konfabulator, and it’s a nifty presents on my desktop, but it’s also a sloppy presents. The thing that struck me about dashboard, as much as the widgets themselves, in all honesty, was the Expose intergration. That, in my opinion, more than anything else, make Dashboard and Konfabulator two completely different animals.
Posted on July 06, 2004
anonymous Says:
“As I see it, Apple was obviously ‘inspired’ by the look of Konfabulator, but the basic idea of mini-apps is nothing new.”
What!?! I think we can all agree that Apple created the aqua look in OS X. Arlo’s work is nothing short of beautiful, but even he will admit that his widgets get their cue from Aqua.
Posted on July 07, 2004
David Trevas Says:
1) “Widget” is a very generic term that pre-dates the computer age and it is also used widely in UI programming contexts.
2) The capabilities of Dashboard are a superset of Konfab. Dashboard can use Cocoa, HTML, QuickTime, Flash (probably Java applets), CSS and other WebKit technologies in addition to XML and JavaScript. It’s like comparing a plain-text editor to a full-featured word processor.
3) Dashboard looks like it could easily be a Sherlock AND Watson killer.
4) It seems to me that Watson had a better following than Sherlock 3 did. I’ve always found Sherlock to be disappointing, but I wasn’t willing to pay someone to give me something that should have come with the OS in the first place.
Posted on July 07, 2004
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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Chris DiEugenio Says:
Konfabulator costs something as a stand alone product, Dashboard does not. For the user, the simple upgrade to Tiger will cost them a lump sum of probably $129. I would rather pay the $129 and get Dashboard along with all of the other 149 features. Point is, Dashboard/Konfabulator technology and the implimentation of this interface idea now gets out there to more people.
I feel bad for Mr. Rose but at the same time he took ideas from Apple when he left Apple too! Now I am not defending Apple in this case, but look at how many times interface rip offs have occured. It happens once in a while and is not constant. Maybe Apple should just offer the Konfabulator creators jobs that head up the Dashboard ‘team’?
Posted on July 06, 2004