Slashdot Mirror
Konfabulator: Whatever You Want It To Be
Squidgee writes "Arlo Rose, one of the developers who worked on Kaleidoscope, and the ill fated Eazel desktop environment for Linux, has come out with another potentially Mac-shaking app: Konfabulator. Konfabulator lets you run any program written in XML/Applescript/Javascript (It's own little hybrid of all three) in its engine, seamlessly placing the app onto your desktop. Examples of such apps are: A CPU Monitor, a Multi-Clipboard tool, a weather monitor, a battery monitor, etc. It allows for easy developement, beautiful apps, and unlimited functionality."
An important part of this is that it uses Javascript and the DOM as a scripting language. This opens up basic GUI wrapping of OS X API frameworks to a lot of individuals out there who would probably never try programming if they had to use PERL, C, or any other regular language for development.
So what comes out of this is that non-CS folks can easily put together 1-trick ponies that look amazing. This adds a completely new level of customization for those out there who want to create utilitarian applications for their desktop.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Konfabulator proved its worth when a coworker had to use the weather module to find out it was raining outside.
Cursed cubicles.
I have a weather monitor window. It's in my wall. It works great.
-- Cheers!
I thought John Gruber's review of Konfabulator at Daring Fireball was interesting: he points out that you can't use native widgets -- every graphic element has to be composed -- and that he'd have liked an IDE. He also thinks that adoption rates would be better if they gave away the runtime engine (the app itself) but charged for the development environment.
I can't see this getting past the "this is cool" stage, or getting anywhere near the "this is useful" or even the "this is indispensable" stages.
See also Crazy Apple Rumors, which, as usual, hits the nail on the head: "While there is widespread confusion about what Konfabulator specifically does, there is little confusion about the fact that it is stylish and it is the hottest new application for OS X."
Wow. Throw out everything I constantly hear from winlots about "Macs don't have enough apps" and from linux zealots that "good apps come from coders scratching an itch." It's been a week, folks. Get some perspective.
I guess if it's a mac, and looks purty, it will be ignored, dismissed, derided, criticised, then copied poorly. Rinse, lather, repeat.
I don't know, the Homeland Security status indicator is a small Aqua-style pill displaying the color and name of the current alert. :)
mbbac
Ok, cmd-option-click_desktop is nice. Thanks.
What is cmd-option-m supposed to do? I get noting...
Forgive me, I'm a recent switcher and my Mac skillz aren't so l33t.
Command-option-H didn't work for you? Wow, no wonder people think that the Mac OS is a goldmine for lazy developers.