First there was DesktopX.

Then there was Samurize.

Then there was AveDesk

Then there was Kapsules.

And soon Konfabulator for Windows will be out.

Each one has their pros and cons to them. I'm trying to work out the pros and cons of each so that we can learn from all of them.

I've been a huge widget fan since before they were called widgets. Back in 1999 when we started working on DesktopX, what I wanted to see was a way for users to be able to create their own live mini-applets on their desktops. We call these objects (And still do).

This may sound bizarre but we don't view Samurize, AveDesk, or Kapsules as competitors (in the financial sense we don't, obviously in the pure development point of view we do). But we do view Konfabulator as a competitor. But that sounds absurd doesn't it? But Stardock actually is the host for Samurize. Samurize.com runs on a Stardock machine with our bandwidth at no charge. We would do the same for AveDesk too btw.

But why? Because we are convinced that widgets are the next big thing. I think many of you agree. And a rising tide lifts all boats. The more people who get into this, the better off all of us will be.

So what are the pros and cons of each of these? I'm ignorant to various degrees on some of these so if I make an error, it is not out of an intention to spread FUD but only because I'm dumb.

AveDesk:
Pros:
+ It's free
+ Low overhead
+ Widgets are skinnable
+ Widgets are configurable

Cons:
- Core widgets are DLLs that require "real programming" which will limit the overall # of unique ones. On the other hand, how many "unique" widgets are there really?
- Scripting doesn't seem to be native, requires SysStats.
- Bit of a pain to get widgets downloaded/installed
- No real library yet.
- Seems to be reliant on "what is Konfabulator doing?" type thinking


Samurize:
Pros:
+ It's free
+ Has a visual development environment for the creation of derivative widgets
+ Makes it easy for non-techies to make derivative widgets
+ Widgets are configurable
+ Has a library

Cons:
- Loading up VB Script files is not most people's idea of intuitive
- "Widgets" don't seem to be that compact, that is, it's .vbs files and images thrown together.

Kapsules:
Pros:
+ It's free
+ Everything is modularized in a .widget file
+ Widget configurations handled very cleverly
+ Has library

Cons:
- Less third party support
- Written in VB (I believe)


Konfabulator (for Windows)
Pros:
+ Very well known
+ Will be able to use some of the Konfabulator for Mac widgets
+ Widgets are very high quality
+ Widgets are modularized in an XML file whcih handles everything except the images.
+ Great library of high quality content.

Cons:
- It's not free
- Most Konfabulator widgets are in .sit or .dmg files which PC users won't be able or willing to make work.
- It's such a direct competitor to Avedesk and Kapsules that it'll have a tough time getting people to pay for it.
- Memory overhead not known yet but as the developers of the others can tell you, getting this stuff to not be a pig is not trivial -- you can't just go "Neat, layered windows, let's have each widget be a layered window!".

DesktopX (I'm most familiar with this so it'll have more +'s and -'s)
Pros:
+ Very widely used (>11,000 downloads last week alone)
+ Widget making is GUI driven (you don't have to edit file directly you do it from the GUI).
+ Its widgets are literally .EXEs, no messing around with installing them to the right directory. And its objects (the equivalent to AveDesk widgets) are .dxpacks which when clicked on automatically load up.
+ Very low overhead (load up AveDesk and load up the iTunes widget, then load the iTunes DX widget and compare the difference).
+ High speed animation support - fluid alpha blended animation supported that uses essentially no CPU -- i.e. DX uses video card hardware acceleration.
+ Mature object model
+ Can also be used to build entire desktops which can be exported.
+ Pro version available that allows widgets to be exported as stand alone programs (so developers can graduate to making a living selling custom software).
+ Support both scripting and plugins (i.e. like AveDesk + SysStats combined) natively.
+ Huge library of objects, widgets, and themes that even novice users can use (i.e. no downloading and figuring out where to copy it, no tracking down sys stats, etc.).
+ Much easier to create objects and widgets for (but this is a negative too)
+ Free version allows unlimited use of using widgets and creating objects and themes.
+ Includes hot keys to bring all widgets/objects to top or hide them all together.
+ NATIVELY SUPPORTS ACTIVEX CONTROLS Which means every COM object on your system is effectively the same as an Avedesk plugin (no one had to "program" an iTunes plugin for DesktopX for instance).

Cons:
- It's not free
- 3/4ths of the objects for it suck (because they're so easy to create) so users have to sift through a lot of junk.
- Power developers still have to use the GUI: .dxpack files include an INI file + XML for the scripting + images but they're not well documented so you wouldn't want to make them that way).
- Piont and click interface for object creation not necessarily suitable to all developers.
- Widgets are not very configurable by default.
- Widgets vs. Objects differences may confuse novice users
- Until DesktopX 2, DesktopX was more of an experimental "neat gadget" than ready for prime time so users who tried it long ago may have had a bad experience with it that they remember.
- Because it takes such a different development approach than the others (GUI based object manipulation vs. editing a .widget file on the hard drive) it may seem "strange" to users.

So there you have it. Others please feel free to add on to this so that we have a more rounded view of each of these.