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Yahoo Updates Konfabulator
An anonymous reader writes "InformationWeek is reporting that Yahoo! has released a new version of Konfabulator, now rechristened 'Yahoo Widget Engine'. From the article: 'Widgets are useful to portals because they can draw users to their services directly from the desktop, without first having to launch a browser. By providing a more direct route, portals are trying to increase the use of their services, which are tied to online advertising. Yahoo rival search engine Google Inc. also offers widgets.'"
What changed?
Is this a marketing version number upgrade, or what?
I think I need a new sig here.
If I already use OS X, can konfabulator do anything for me? It seems like there should be some sort of universal language for crafting these widgets now that they are getting very popular.
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Widget could be useful... maybe. But before we they can even there, they need to integrate better with the rest of the "user experience". I am using Dashboard (I tried konfab for the kicks, but they seemed pretty much equivalent), and the widget don't behave like the rest of the OS. I can't copy past in all of them (can't copy from bloody dictionnary!), most of them don't have preferences I can adjust to fit my needs and they only the most limited fonctionnality for any operation (calculator app. is pretty dumb but it shines when compared to the widget conterpart).
I know these are free, simple coding projects, but come on! They have to behave like a proper app. for them to enhance my productivity. As far as I am concerned, widget are just a "proof of concept" for the moment. I am still waiting for a widget that does more tham show me where the sun is and isn't shinning (I am being overly harsh here, but you get my point).
Google's problem, though, is that they have a tendancy not to follow up on things, but rather leave them in indefinite beta or some other limbo. Take "Hello" (a photo-sharing and chat program which is part of the Picasa offering) for example. It's a fairly cool, though very specialized product. Shouldn't that be part of their new chat service? Yahoo has already built similar real-time photo-sharing into their Messenger product. While I'll admit that Yahoo overbrands, they at least try to have some consistency in their offering. When is Google going to start integrating some of their separate products into more useful platforms? Integration can weigh a product suite down, but right now there are some glaring opportunities: For example, why not integrate Google Groups (which has been in "beta" now for years) with GMail? What about integrating Picasa with Google Desktop (both of which offer search/organization functionality for photos)?
I'll stick with the real deal.
Yahoo lost me back when they got cocky and started shoveling crap down my throat on their search page.
ICQ was also notorious for the same thing. They were just a little too ambitious for my tastes. I wanted a product, not a marketing blitz. Wow, they've even toned it down significantly. Now all the products are neatly categories within their product search engine.
Simplicity is a good. Forcefeeding is bad.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Keyhole became Google Earth.
Deja News (Deja.com) became Google Groups.
Urchin Log Analyzer became Google Analytics . (More on this change)
Sprinks became wholly subsumed into Google AdWords, not even as its own sub-brand.
There are nowhere near as many Googles as there are Yahoo!s, but Google's making a clear move toward matching Yahoo! as far as brands go.
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No, your not being overly harsh. I spent (wasted) 2 days playing with them and arrived at basically the same conclusion.
At first they seemed like an easy way to write a small app that could be distributed easy (no windows install etc) and they looked cool, but that was just laziness on my part. If I recall they didn't seem to have much in the way of capabilities or at least nothing I couldn't do with a browser, except clutter up my desktop w/ admittably cool looking large icons.
I believe Konfabulator was actually inspired by NextStep's desktop widgets. NextStep's OS did go on to become OS X, so I guess it could quite easily be argues that Konfabulator is a complete rip off of OS X's Dashboard.
Ah! Dessert...
I like the place in the documentation where it says that they're going to add more sandboxing "later". Before, or after, the first big exploit?
Now, while Google Dashboard plugins can be called 'widgets', what was the point of including that sentence at the end? Yes, I see it was a quote from the original article, and it's just as oddly placed there, but it is even more odd here.
"Microsoft releases Windows Vista. Microsoft rival Apple also offers an OS."
"Honda releases new Civic Hybrid. Honda rival Toyota also offers a hybrid."
"Devil offers Eve an Apple. Devil rival God also offers knowledge."
I mean, really. Did the reporter just HAVE to find a way to include Google in this story? Maybe a bit of commentary "Yahoo rival Google offers Widgets through their more extensible Google Dashboard" or something, but just 'Google too!' is a bit odd.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.