Konfabulator

symphonix

Scratch & Sniff Committee
Name of Application: Konfabulator
Creator: Pixoria Inc
URL: http://www.konfabulator.com/
Why I am Nominating This: A versatile and clever way of adding many new tools and tricks.

I don't know how this one could have been missed! Even though similar functionality will appear as "Dashboard" in the next version of Mac OS X, the original implementation is well worth exploring. the library of "widgets" is now over 900, each one specific to a task, like showing traffic cameras or weather forecasts, converting metric units, controlling iTunes, showing system information, searching the internet, displaying newsfeeds, and so much more.
 
I'm a long-time user of Konfab, but if someone is planning to go to Tiger as soon as it's out, they might want to hold off on purchasing this to see a) what the Dashboard widgets have to offer b) Konfab's continued support for the Mac platformand Tiger (Arlo seems to be pushing towards a Windows move in light of the hard feelings over Dashboard vs Konfabulator).
 
I've personally never seen the point to Konfabulator and Dashboard. What do they add over normal programs? There's an RSS Reader, Weather applet, clock, etc, but you can get all these are freeware programs. Why do you need Konfabulator?
 
Ease of use, flexibility in design, look, placement. Consistency in creation, though it can be a resource hog if a widget is poorly designed. Konfabulator's been great, but as I said before, one might want to consider Dashboard in Tiger before paying for a license right now.
 
The only downside to Konfabulator is if you have a lot of widgets running you'll see some resource loss. It can be a very handy little app, but I think Dashboard will be a bit better suited to mainstream use. Seems easier to program for, not to mention better integrated into the OS and a bit more optimized.
 
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