Mission Control: Did Dashboard earn its promotion? Why not iOS Apps instead?

[urkel]

Several upgrades ago Dashboard started affecting my system performance so I slowly weened myself off of the few widgets I still used. And in speaking with several Mac friends then it seems to be a very unpopular feature with both users and developers.

So I was surprised to see it gained such a prominent position in Lions Mission Control. While I liked Dashboard in the past, it became a nuisance in Lion because I end up swiping to it accidentally all the time. And it got me thinking, instead of outdated widgets, why not update dashboard to be iOS Apps?

Weather, Stocks, Calculator, Sports etc all have superior iOS Apps so if Apple really wants to blur the line between desktop and mobile OS's then why not actually give us some of those useful mobile Apps? I bet it would clear up a lot of the UI questions if they did that.

 

[stewacide]

I'm also over dashboard: have it totally disabled via Onxy (prefer task bar apps for that sort of thing). But I don't think there's anything wrong with the implementation. If Apple isn't updating their first party dashboard widgets like they should that's nothing to do with iOS.

 

[ovrlrd]

The problem with Dashboard is that nobody uses it and so there is no reason for developers to bother making widgets. That's how we end up with so many out of date widgets like it is now. There is nothing technically stopping widgets from being better though, just lack of interest like I said.

I would rather see developers focus on making good use of the new full screen mode in Lion, it has a lot more potential than people give it credit for.

 

[teryan2006]

There's a setting in System Preference -> Mission Control. If you uncheck "Show Dashboard as a Space", dashboard behaves like 10.4 - 10.6. It shows up as a layer and should solve your accidental trigger problem.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

Widgets should be on the desktop visible at all times, not zooming in when you press a hot key. Thats why no one bothers with them, probably. I only use it for the calculator.

Which makes me think, would Launchpad be better suited to a hot key?
Maybe new Macs will have it asigned to F5? With a new image of the rocket on the key..

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

It makes no sense to be able to load iOS apps instead of widgets. For one thing, it would likely cut into the profits of some developers. Imagine being able to play Angry Birds in your Dashboard for $.99 instead of downloading the $5 version from the Mac App Store? Also, the touch-based interface for most iOS apps would not translate well to a non-touch based control, like on a Mac.

 

[Capt Underpants]

I wish someone made a decent lyrics widget for dashboard. Pearlyrics was awesome, but the developer was forced to take it down. And I still haven't found anything to replace it...

I guess I'm in the minority in that I still use Dashboard -- if only for iStat, Stickies, Weather, and Dictionary.

 

[mrgraff]

Widgets should be on the desktop visible at all times, not zooming in when you press a hot key. Thats why no one bothers with them, probably. I only use it for the calculator.

Which is also why I like Geektool ... unfortunately, it's broken in Lion.

 

[urkel]

It makes no sense to be able to load iOS apps instead of widgets. For one thing, it would likely cut into the profits of some developers. Imagine being able to play Angry Birds in your Dashboard for $.99 instead of downloading the $5 version from the Mac App Store?

Huh?!?!? Do you know how many 99c iPhone Apps people have repurchased when the iPad version came out at $5? I own both iPhone versions of Angry Birds and while they would work on the iPad also, I still bought the iPad version because it looks better. Same would apply to iOS vs Desktop versions.

Also, the touch-based interface for most iOS apps would not translate well to a non-touch based control, like on a Mac.

Yet Lions UI has been modified to reflect the touch interface of iOS.

I know all iOS Apps won't work perfectly on a desktop, but if Apple is so intent in proving that OS X "needs" to adopt the iOS feel then why not find a way to also bring in the real reason iOS is so popular. The Apps themselves. Its much more beneficial to the end users to see iOS Apps appear on OS X than the clunky iOS interface.