How To Make Your Own Mac “Widgets Gone Wild.”

Have you ever wondered this? Why does Apple limit Dashboard Widgets to the Dashboard in Mac OS X?

Why not free the Widgets and let them act alone, stand alone, and become Widgets Gone Wild?

It’s tough to argue that Widgets are not cool and not worthy of consideration and use on our Macs.

Eye candy? Sure. Useful utilities by the thousands that don’t cost a dime to use? Certainly.

I like Widgets. I use Widgets. I want more Widgets. I have one major problem with Widgets.

Why are they stuck to the Dashboard? Why can’t Apple free the Widgets to act as standalone Mac utilities.

Stop the discrimination. Stop the pain. Free The Widgets. Let the Widgets run wild and free on every Mac in the world.

You see where I’m going with this, right? I know you have a few favorite Widgets that you’d like to see running on top of your screen without all the other Widgets looking on.

Widget Browser and Amnesty Singles gets close, if not as elegantly as I’m sure Apple could make it. I say, Free The Widgets.

Widget Browser is a full featured Widget manager for Mac OS X Tiger and Panther. There’s plenty of those already, and Apple even provides a Widget manager.

Widget Browser adds management capability to Dashboard Widgets and gives them expanded capabilities and lets them run on the desktop.

Frankly, that’s not good enough. Running a Widget on the desktop isn’t much different than running it in Dashboard, except that you don’t have all those onlooker Widgets gawking at what you do with your Widget.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The real difference is that you load Dashboard Widgets in Amnesty Widget Browser, so they get their own preferences.

I say, off the desktop and float, fly, free Widgets, fly!! Free the Widgets.

Free them or corral them like so much livestock. Amnesty Widget Browser lets you herd Widgets together into groups, or virtual workspaces.

Amnesty Singles are different altogther. Different but still Widgets. Amnesty Singles is a simple Mac OS X utility that converts a Dashboard Widget into a standalone utilitiy for Mac OS X Tiger and Panther.

The is almost the ultimate way to free your Widgets from the domain of the Dashboard clutter.

Over the past year I’ve found that I use only a few Widgets and yet I keep a couple dozen open and running on Dashboard. Too much clutter.

Take those few Widgets you use the most, convert them to Mac utilities using Amnesty Singles, and remove the clutter of the Dashboard altogether.

Not bad for $10, huh? If you’re a Widgetoholic, you’ve got another option besides Apple’s Dashboard Widgets.

How about the original Widgets, now a part of Yahoo, and available for Windows XP as well as Mac OS X.

The Yahoo Widget Engine adds hundreds of Widgets to your Mac, some of which look amazingly similar to the Widgets on your Dashboard.

If you’re stuck at the office using a Windows PC, now you can make a part of it look like a Mac with the Widgets collection from Yahoo, which used to be Konfabulator, which started on the Mac, which was ripped off by Apple, which probably started somewhere else anyway.

In the final analysis, Dashboard Widgets are the ultimate personal utility for Mac users. Eye candy or can’t-live-without, love ‘em or hate ‘em, Widgets are here to stay.

Still, I’m concerned that Apple is missing a huge opportunity by not freeing the Widgets from the Dashboard. What a great way to bring back the desk accessories of decades past.

It’s time for Widgets Gone Wild. Apple, free the Widgets from the Dashboard.