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Detailed Reviews of Mac OS X "Tiger" Preview
An anonymous reader writes "AppleInsider has been publishing some very detailed articles on Apple's new Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' operating system, which include numerous screenshots of the system. So far the publication has discussed overall installation and Spotlight search technology, Safari with RSS, a new Mail revision with
Smart Mailbox technology, and a websearch enabled Mac OS X Help application."
You know, that's a really smart idea! Of course it would need a few tweaks- Maybe calculate the percentage of mistakes and trash it above a certain value (for the friends who make the occasional spelling mistake).
The best part is, if spammers start using spell-check and correcting their mail before sending (changing V1@gr@ to Viagra) it will be caught by the spam filters instead! It's a win-win situation, less spam and correct spelling...
Urge to post... fading... fading... RISING!... fading... fading... gone.
I was rather swayed by this piece (with the most interesting point summarized below for the mentally slashdoted)
k on fabulator
.
http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/dashboard_vs_
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"Konfabulator = (Custom XML format) + (Custom JavaScript engine)
Dashboard, on the other hand, is based on WebCore, the underlying open source layout and scripting engine behind Safari. Dashboard gadgets are indeed scripted using JavaScript, the same language used by Konfabulator, but Dashboard uses the JavaScript engine that's built into the system. And for UI layout, Dashboard gadgets are specified using HTML and CSS -- using the same rendering engine as Safari.
. .
Do you see how huge this is? How it opens the door to gadget development to anyone with web design experience? Indeed, I've read the preliminary Dashboard developer documentation (generously provided by a source attending WWDC), and it is outstanding from the perspective of making gadgets easy-to-create.
The idea that Dashboard is derivative because it's scripted via JavaScript is missing the point. Dashboard isn't using JavaScript just to use JavaScript -- it's using JavaScript because Dashboard gadgets are little floating Web Kit views."
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The article also argues, and offers documentation in support of the position, that you can trace the idea for such widgets all the way back to the first "desk accessories" like the puzzle and calculator from 1984. Then combines both points to paint Dashboard as a natural outgrowth of fundmental Apple ideas.
While Konfabulator is an implementation of similar concepts, they were not the inventors of them and their chosen means of implementation makes their software practically useless to Apple from the buy-and-incorporate perspective.