Actually you can turn on/off dashboard from the terminal do the following:

To turn Dashboard off:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES

To turn Dashboard on:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO

You have to restart the Dock after making either change for it to take effect:
killall Dock

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The fact that Dashboard's widgets aren't constantly displayed on my desktop is precisely what I like about them. The two Konfab widgets you mentioned - weather and picture frame - were only two I ever found "useful" as well (and I use the term loosely). I mean, how many clocks/iTunes remotes do we need?

I'm not saying that Dashboard's widgets are so much more useful than Konfab's, not at all. Both offer entertaining and attractive widgets that I could easily live without. As soon as that one widget comes along that makes me say, "Wow, now that's fantastic," I'm sticking with Dashboard, simply becasue it isn't always in my way.

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I have Konfabulator running on my WinPC so I can view the weather and stock quotes...which I also have on my Dashboard. I like Dashboard because it can hide (yeah, I know the 'K' one can hide too). I also like the multiple clocks I can have on the Dashboard. I deal with offices in multiple timezones, so it makes it easy to see what time it is elsewhere.

Oh yeah, and the stickies. Love the stickies for keeping track of little things.

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Funny, I was thinking exactly the same. Since Konfabulator being free I only have one Dashboard widget running, because I can't get it for Konfabulator. It's for sending SMS via a German freemailer (GMX). I did exactly the same with The Weather widget: It is sitting on my desktop with maximum transparency and as unobstrusive as I can get it.

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But can Konfab utilize hot corners? Right now, I love how dashboard flies up whenever I hover my mouse of the bottom right corner. It's always there when I need it, but doesn't get in the way when I need to save real estate for my design work. I disliked Expose for the same reason -- I didn't feel like pushing buttons, but the hot corners is what makes it amazing.

Fishes,
narco.

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sorry this is off topic. it is the first time i have every seen it. and it rocks.

how long has this been around?

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I don't have a problem with the politics, and whatever someone chooses over another doesn't bother me a bit.

My personal reasons for not running Konfabulator over Dashboard are threefold, and two of them are recent, as the issues didn't exist :

1) The Azureus Konfabulator Widget(s) that people have developed aren't as good as the Dashboard offering.
2) Yahoo!'s EULA is too broad. I like to own my own widgets, and think other developers should be able to as well. Yahoo! could at any moment pull the rug out and start charging for Widgets, or demanding royalties for pay-Widgets made by third-party developers, or turn the whole thing into a subscription only.
3) Let's not kid ourselves. Yahoo! did this to make money. They will use this to datamine, provide more adspace, or convert into part of their pay-subscription memberships.

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Ah, but Dashboard can do this as well....

in Terminal:

$ defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

then restart the Dock

You can then hit F12 to get into Dashboard, click-hold on an open widget, hit F12 agian to get back to the Desktop, and the widget will come with you. Drop it anywhere you like. :)

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allright so lets see, you have 2 widgets
1. to check the weather (which I have a toolbar app for)
2. to alleviate boredom (which I use humanclock.com for)

I re-downloaded Konfab after they made it free and realized there isn't a damn thing there I can actually USE. Stuff to PLAY with, yeah. Everything useful is already done by menumeters or other apps. If I had to check more visual things (webcams, stocks) or really needed a teensy version of Itunes (which I don't), it'd be great. Also if my desktop wasn't littered with icons that only get cleaned up for maybe 4 or 5 days before it gets trashed again.

I also recant my statements about widgets being a primary reason for getting Tiger. I realize the error of my ways. Though I'm still not shelling out 70$ (student discount) for it.

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What? You didn't have the Bubu the Pug ( http://www.tuaw.com/2005/07/14/widget-watch-bubu-the-pug/ ) widget on your desktop? ;-)

Jeff

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To #8: I think you're right, Yahoo did this to make money, but not the way you think...If you've seen Yahoo Messenger on Windows, its the only messenger out of the big three that have NO ads in it..None!! Instead, its used more as a 'portal' to push you to other yahoo services and websites, where there are websites. I think konfabulator is just another way to push traffic to yahoo's webpages, where they do charge for advertising.

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With or without Konfabulator, I would LOVE to banish Dashboard from my Dock. I don't use it, and I don't like that you can't choose whether to have it running. I know I don't have to call it up if I don't want to see it, but if I never use the thing, I should have the option of quitting it (without having to type commands in Terminal), just like any other application. Dashboard is NOT a major selling point of Tiger, it's a gimmick.

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I just use WeatherPop (http://www.weatherpop.com/) instead of any widgets because, well, I can't stand using widgets for information I need right away. I find them disorganized at best. The only ones I ever use are Dictionary and Thesaurus, and that's rare since I can just go to Safari and type "define 'word'" in the Google search bar just as quickly.

WeatherPop stays up there in the menu bar next to International and Date&Time with a nice icon telling me what it looks like outside and the temperature. If I want more info, I just click on it and the menu tells me all I need to know, including a forecast.

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This Konfabulator/Dashboard debate is old. The Yahoo acquisition hasn't changed the basic software, and it won't change anyone's preference. Either utility has its advantages and disadvantages. Surely the TUAW mods can come up with more informative/inventive topics than this tired nag. Time to stop flogging a dead horse. Come on folks, let's move on.

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Widgets suck. I hope Leopard does away with dashboard. Make the dock more functional with cool info in there and I'll be happy.

Disable Dashboard!

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I agree - not being able to turn off the Dashboard is a BIG mistake. I bought my new iMac mainly because i needed more juice for garageband, but Dashboard just sucks up my RAM.

This helps:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18261

Haven't tried this one, but seems to be the same thing:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18204

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I agree that not being able to quit and restart Dashboard is a major issue. At least let people decide if they want them or not, come on Apple get with the program.

So, for those of you who don't want Dashboard or some of the other features of Tiger, try Disable Tiger Features:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26899

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I don't understand people complaining about Dashboard. It doesn't do anything if you have no widgets open, so how could it be sucking up your RAM? And the problem with Konfabulator is, even if you have no widgets open, as long as Konfab is running it's constantly sucking RAM and CPU.

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Apple should in future releases of OS X give us a Dashboard on/off switch. I agree that not having the choice is a major disadvantage. But that aside, the biggest advantage over Konfabulator is that Dashboard doesn't clutter the screen. I don't see the appeal for more on the desktop, especially when there are menu bar and dock add-ons that can show much of the same set of information. Besides, how many of us actually need to constantly check our widgets anyways?

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