loonyblog.: Fearful symmetry.

July 04, 2004

Fearful symmetry.

For the last few years, around this time, Apple has unveiled their next version of OS X. This year's WWDC was no exception, and they unveiled the latest version, to be released early next year as 10.4 Tiger. In comparison with Panther and Jag-wire, this one isn't very exciting at all. That's not to say there aren't any cool new features, because there definitely are some...but by and large the only reason I'll be getting this is because Apple stops supporting the previous release about six months after their latest one. It totally sucks, but that's the way they do things, so all you can do is suck it up and except it.

But at least there are some cool things here. Spotlight uses a system-wide database to enable fast searching across your entire system (sort of like what Longhorn's supposed to be able to do if it ever gets finished). Automator takes Applescript to a whole new level, and while I'll stick to using NetNewsWire, I do think Safari's implementation of RSS sounds great (if you're browsing a site with an RSS feed, an icon pops up in your address bar).

Of course, every now and then there are some questionable additions to the OS. A few years back it was the redesigned Sherlock, which was a carbon-copy clone of the beloved Watson (which is now going cross-platform!). This year there were two: Spotlight, which as I said is really cool, does sound an awful lot like LaunchBar. In fairness to Apple, the system-wide database thing has been talked about with every major OS for years and years (Be was the first to implement it, if my memory serves correct), but it will still take away from the usefulness of the program.

No, the much more questionable addition is Dashboard, a new addition to Expose that basically implements Konfabulator into the OS. There is some evidence to support the claim that Apple discovered this concept independently, but I don't buy it. No more than I buy the fact that the redesigned Sherlock looked exactly like Watson (luckily for Watson, the redesigned Sherlock sucked). I never thought Konfabulator was worth the price of entry, so I'm really going on the author's word here, but it does sound like there are a few advantages to Konfabulator over Dashboard. By the same token, I'm sure cool stuff will come out of Dashboard. But still, it's got to sting to see Apple co-op your software like that.

It's not easy liking a company like Apple when they do things like this. In the case of both Konfabulator and Watson, the developers were never approached to implement their software into the OS, it was just done without their knowledge or consent. Mac OS, far more than Windows, is an OS that thrives based on the hard work of independent programmers (see elsewhere on this blog for a list of some of my favorite apps). It's sad that Apple feels the need to compete, rather than help out, so many of these developers.

But then, what's really strange, is the fact that they're implementing things like Konfabulator, when products like FruitMenu exist only because Apple left major features out of the OS.

Posted by jason at July 4, 2004 11:11 AM | TrackBack | Read more: Apple

Comments

Clearly Watson took their inspiration from Sherlock in the first place (just look at the name) and it was a fairly obvious place for Apple to go with Sherlock too. They also offered the Watson guy a job at Apple on more than one occassion, which he refused to take.

Launchbar is for launching applications quickly. Spotlight is for finding files quickly. Spotlight is just a better version of any existing file system search (which the Finder already has), it's a bit unfair to say it's a Launchbar clone.

And there's not just a little evidence to say that Apple discovered Dashboard independently, it's a simple fact that this idea was done by Apple back in 1984. Just look at the screenshot on folklore.org - http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Desk_Ornaments.txt&sortOrder=Sort%20by%20Date&detail=medium&search=desk%20accessories - sure looks like Dashboard to me.

Not only that, but Apple's implementation is based on the idea of taking the Side Panel you would find in the Mozilla browser, and taking it out of the browser window and onto the desktop, viewable/hideable in an instant with one keypress. Just take a read at Dave Hyatt's blog for the full scoop on that - http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/hyatt/. It's a much more powerful idea than Konfabulator.

Heck, Windows 98 had the Active Desktop. Which was web pages on the desktop in seperate windows. Dashboard is much more like that, with the added ability to hide/show them at will.

Apple can't be expected to pay the people at Konfabulator for taking a whole load of ideas that had been done before, especially when they didn't even do them very well (huge resource hog, not as flexible a framework as Dashboard).

The Watson developer proved that you can compete with Apple. He continued to develop a much better application than Sherlock (although I find both of them pointless) and I'm sure the Konfabulator guys will try the same. Just because a similar application is included in the OS, doesn't put an end to your business. Otherwise there would be no other text editors, calculators or web-browsers, since they're all included in the OS.

Heck, the inclusion of Safari in the OS helped Omni make Omniweb better!

Posted by: Richard Smith

at July 4, 2004 07:38 PM

First of all, Safari didn't make Omniweb better...you find Watson (and Sherlock) pointless, I find Omniweb pointless. It was bloatware to begin with, now it's just bloatware powered by Safari.

But that's beside the point. Look at the side-by-side screenshots of Watson to Sherlock 3 and try and tell me there's no connection there. Of course there is. Ditto for Dashboard/Konfabulator. Yeah, it's an idea that's been done before, but the fact is that it hadn't been done in OS X. And once it was, it was co-opted. There are far too many similarities there to be just some crazy coincidence. Just like there were with Watson.

And if you've ever used LaunchBar for any significant period of time, you'll see how Spotlight renders it a bit pointless. I didn't say Spotlight was a ripoff of LaunchBar, simply that its usefulness will significantly diminish with Tiger.

Posted by: jason bergman

at July 4, 2004 08:14 PM

I find Omniweb pointless as well, but it did make it better. Their rendering engine had serious problems on a lot of sites, and by using Webkit, they solved that, but still got to include all the other features that Safari by itself doesn't offer.

Posted by: Richard Smith

at July 5, 2004 02:30 PM

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