Yahoo! acquires Konfabulator

Yahoo! Inc. on Monday will announce the acquisition of Konfabulator, a Macintosh and Windows application that allows users to run mini files known as Widgets on their desktop -- the same model used by Apple for its Dashboard application. Yahoo! company executives said they would also be giving Konfabulator away for free, completely doing away with the US$19.95 currently charged for the product.

Yahoo! said the reason they purchased Konfabulator was that they wanted an easy way to open up its APIs to the developer community and allow them easy access to the information on the Yahoo! Web site. In doing this, Widgets could be built without having to scrape sites in order to get information.

“What we can do with Konfabulator is wrap these services that we are opening up into an environment that is really easy for people to now become developers,” Tony Schneider, vice president of the Yahoo! Developer Network, told MacCentral.

Schneider also confirmed that Konfabulator would be available for free. In addition, Yahoo! plans to refund customers that purchased the product in the last two months.

The acquisition of Konfabulator may not be the last Mac compatible product users see from Yahoo! While Schneider wasn’t specific, he did say that there was interest in the Mac.

“There is a move at Yahoo! -- in addition to Konfabulator -- to move more onto the Mac,” said Schneider. “We want to make sure we find a way to be more cross platform.”

1 posted on 07/25/2005 7:46:16 AM PDT by Panerai

Konfabulator now free / purchased by Yahoo !

2 posted on 07/25/2005 7:47:33 AM PDT by Panerai

To: Bush2000; antiRepublicrat; Action-America; eno_; Glenn; BigFinn; Brian Allen; byset; Bubba; ...

Yahoo! acquires Konfabulator and moves toward more Mac compatibility.

PING!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

3 posted on 07/25/2005 8:07:37 AM PDT by Swordmaker (tagline now open, please ring bell.)

Does this mean avatars will be visable on a Mac? My daughters love playing with their avatars and they don't seem to work on Daddy's Mac

4 posted on 07/25/2005 8:11:13 AM PDT by Military family member (Colts Camp starts Thursday!)

There are a lot of interesting Widgets out there . . . some are even useful.

5 posted on 07/25/2005 8:14:28 AM PDT by savedbygrace ("No Monday morning quarterback has ever led a team to victory" GW Bush)

Thanks Panerai. Still using 10.2.8 so I'll give it a try.

6 posted on 07/25/2005 8:23:05 AM PDT by Leonard210

There are a lot of interesting Widgets out there . . . some are even useful.

Some are great! I'm thinking about buying a larger monitor to accommodate more Widgets.

7 posted on 07/25/2005 8:52:32 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (Be a Good Mullah Now ...)

Spectacular. Now all Yahoo has to do is un-**** the AltaVista search engine that it ruined.

8 posted on 07/25/2005 3:15:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated by FR profile on Tuesday, May 10, 2005.)

Yahoo! acquires Konfabulator and moves toward more Mac compatibility.

BFD. The widgets aren't interchangeable. Free? I got it free now.

9 posted on 07/25/2005 7:18:00 PM PDT by solitas (So what if I support an OS that has fewer flaws than yours? 'Mystic' dual 500 G4's, OSX.4.2)

BTW, hundreds of Widgets here:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

10 posted on 07/26/2005 12:59:54 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (Be a Good Mullah Now ...)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794