Konfabulator

Konfabulator is one those programs that makes using a Mac so enjoyable. Well now Windows users can get in on the fun too. Starting today, Konfabulator is also available for Microsoft Windows.

If you've never tried Konfabulator, you should really take a look. It's hard to describe what it is because the program is so versatile. Since Konfabulator's release a few years ago, the user community has responded by writing hundreds of widgets for Konfabulator. These widgets are add-on programs that expand the capabilities of Konfabulator. Here are some examples of what widgets can do:

• controll playback of MP3s in iTunes
  
• display current weather conditions and a forecase for your city
• scroll news headlines across the screen
  

Back in the summer of 2004, Apple announced next version of Mac OS X, 10.3 (a.k.a. "Tiger"). One of the new features hilighted at the WWDC was Dashboard, which has features nearly identical to Konfabulator's. Apple even went so far as to dub the little programs incorporated into Dashboard "widgets." The authors of Konfabulator were not so pleased by this, or by the fact that Apple didn't even acknowledge inspiration from Konfabulator. The web is full of discussion about this.

Some even go so far as to suggest that the decision to release Konfabulator for Windows was a response to Apple's snub. Whatever the reason, it's nice to have such a nice program on my ThinkPad as well as my Mac!