Filed under: Software, Other Events
Yahoo! buys Konfabulator
And I am not talking about just one license here, I mean the whole darned company. It seems that the search engine giant is looking for more ammunition in its fight with Google, and thinks that widgets are just what the doctor ordered.Konfabulator will now be free (anyone who purchased 2.0 will be issued a refund) and will be tailored to draw information from a variety of Yahoo related services. Is this a big deal? Well, for the makers of Konfabulator it sure as heck is.
I wonder if they will discontinue the Mac version now, or if it will become as buggy as Yahoo Messenger is on my Mac?
Update: Mark Perton, of Download Squad, links to a MacCentral article in which Arlo Rose says that Mac development will continue, and they are looking at becoming even more cross platform (widgets on your TIVO).
The real question is, now that Konfabulator is free are you going to download it, or are you happy with Dashboard (if you're running Tiger)?
Thanks, Clint!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joseph T. said 1:48AM on 7-25-2005
Wow. This is pretty big news. Is this really a surprise, though? Where were they to go after Apple released Dashboard? Say what you want about comparing the two, but when it comes down to it, they are the same thing. I also love how on the little history comic they have on the Konfab homepage that nothing is mentioned about Apple releasing Dashboard as part of 10.4. You can't tell me that wasn't a huge part in this. They have probably been shopping around for a buyer for a while.
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Quinn Banks said 2:08AM on 7-25-2005
You know it is very tempting, but when I consider how much RAM Konfabulator eats I've decided not to download it. The last time I ran Konfabulator it tooks weeks to get my system running smoothly again. Great deal for the guys at Konfabulator though, I am sure Google will have to match this buy.
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David Chartier said 2:09AM on 7-25-2005
It actually seems like Konfab has a larger support and user base than Dashboard, obviously in part because they opened up to Windows. This seems like yet another interesting move from Yahoo as of late to venture out into unique services and applications - I'm excited to see what will happen, and my mouse is waiting to click on a free copy of Konfab to play with.
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Gordon Werner said 2:25AM on 7-25-2005
Google could always turn around and purchase Apple ... they could afford it after all
;-)
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Dan Pritchard said 2:26AM on 7-25-2005
<< I wonder if they will discontinue the Mac version now, or if it will become as buggy as Yahoo Messenger is on my Mac?>>
Agreed. Friggin' Yahoo sucks. To them, "Mac support" means "dig up the OS 8 version of Yahoo! Messenger and convert it to Carbon. Release a half-hour later and never touch the code again." I mean, at least Google doesn't CLAIM to support the Mac only to release 10-year old code with a UI that looks like something the cat dragged in. And of course, that doesn't matter since all Google software is just designed to implement Mac features for Windows--we don't need it anyway.
It's a good thing there's Adium so I don't have to run that piece of crap to communicate with the (mostly) clueless people who insist on using that network for IM.
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Zell said 2:42AM on 7-25-2005
I'm quite happy with Dashboard. Will Yahoo! ever release an update for Mac Messenger though? I think it's a real shame they haven't bothered to update it even slightly since adding webcam support.
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Steve said 3:20AM on 7-25-2005
I have friends on the PC side that are huge Konfabulator fans. I may give it a go - I definitely like the more expansive library of widgets they have available. However, the above comments about memory use and system stability have me a bit worried :) I'll let others pave the way and if OS X feedback is good and the product is solid, I'll eventually load it up. Will be hard to do away with widgets though as my company developed some for internal use already (employee directory lookup, etc.)...
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umijin said 3:54AM on 7-25-2005
Ummm... I'm not sure what to think.
I'm a Mac Konfabulator user, and it sucks up much less memory than Dashboard. Dunno why that other guy thinks otherwise. I enjoy the product with some small quibbles. It's visually much more appealing than Dashboard and having them float on the desktop rocks.
However, I dunno if I want Yahoo to control it. Yuck! What kind of spamalicious nonsense will we have to suffer? Or spyware? I worry. Maybe the refund will be nice... not worth it if they screw it up though.
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Tim said 6:49AM on 7-25-2005
well, it is interesting, perhaps Yahoo! will start having better mac support? But the fact that the original developers are staying on is a good sign that things might work out for the better. I doubt Yahoo! will stuff it full of spam, but I can see it being shipped with a few standard yahoo search widgets and stuff. (Not intrusive, just a standanrd set of search and mail widgets for "ease-of-use".
For Panther users, this is great. The only other widget alternative for Panther is Amnesty, and they cost as much with less functionality. So this could be very interesting. And if Yahoo! can start bring about proper cross-platform support on their other services, things will get interesting to say the least. (Google, you may be in slight trouble.)
Another cool aspect is the hint that perhaps a Linux version will arise.
Cheers!
-TIm
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Marvo said 7:36AM on 7-25-2005
I bought Konfabulator when it first came out and used it a lot. However, ever since I installed Tiger, I haven't used it much. In fact, I used to have Konfabulator as a startup item, but no more.
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KissTheRing said 8:24AM on 7-25-2005
Free Konfabulator? Cool this will be great for my windows computer at work.
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Dave said 8:50AM on 7-25-2005
I found Konfabulator to be only mildly useful, and I find Dashboard to be only mildly useful. Fun, sure, but my computing experience isn't made better by either application.
Widgets for my Tivo? Why would I want that?
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random said 9:08AM on 7-25-2005
Well, this will be fabulous for my PC. I'm so used to using widgets now on my Mac that I keep hitting the F12 button or dragging my mouse to the bottom right corner automatically. (My other SwitchBack&Forther's horror is my constant attempt to use the Windows key to cut & paste).
I guess it will all just depend on what kind of widgets Konfaboo!ulator offers.
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Thomas said 10:03AM on 7-25-2005
I downloaded it just as soon as I knew it was free. I like dashboard, but I also like to see widgets without opening dashboard.
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LD said 10:03AM on 7-25-2005
New Yahoo APIs could be used for new third party Dashboard Widgets as well...
But really, they are just toys, mostly useless. Konfabulator chews up a boatload of RAM and makes my Windows work PC slow to a crawl.
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Joseph T. said 10:56AM on 7-25-2005
Hmm...Why when I posted last night, I had the first entry, and then this morning, mine is now second???
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Scott McNulty said 11:07AM on 7-25-2005
Joseph,
That has to do with our lovely 'confirm your comment' system. Dan wrote his before you, but he confirmed after you.
:)
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W. Ian Blanton said 12:11PM on 7-25-2005
Well, this fixes the one problem that *I* had with the Konfabulator model - that you had to pay for the runtime.
Don't get me wrong, I think Arlo and company deserve money, I just think they were either charging too much for the or they were charging the wrong people.
I think they should have been charging for dev. kits to make widgets, or charging less for the client and more for dev. version.
I also "kind" of prefer the way that Dashboard works, as cool as the widgets (K) are, I just don't have the screen real-estate to have them up there all the time.
I'm a lot more likely now to give Konfabulator another shot tho, now that it won't cost me anything. I do hope that Yahoo! won't muck it up...
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Todd said 2:43PM on 7-25-2005
No Yahoo/Konfab for me...Dashboard is elegant and just works...I downloaded Konfab for my work Windows XP laptop and it crashed my system. I just uninstalled it to get up and running again.
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BM5k said 11:35PM on 7-28-2005
You actually use Yahoo IM? <COUGH>Adium<COUGH>
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