I've made mention of my Macbook Pro many times previously on this blog.  In the spirit of combating D'Arcy's scurrilous lies about Apple, Mac, and Steve Jobs molesting his dog, I stepped in on Rory Blyth's blog to explain D'Arcy's motivations and also express my utter orgasmic joy at how wonderful my Macbook is.  However, it's not fair of me to just tell you "Working on this Mac forces me to change my pants on an hourly basis" and leave it at that...no, my friends.  I know that you want to know *why* my pants need changing.  And starting with the screenshot below, I'm going to tell you!


This is something called the Mac Dashboard.  Loading it is admittedly a *very* complicated procedure, but having used Windows for several years I'm no stranger to convoluted processes.  Here are the instructions for loading the Mac Dashboard:

1. hit F12
2. change pants

This feels like what it would be like if I got paid $1000 for every questionable picture I could find of Steven Rockarts: *vast reward for very little effort*.  Just look at all the stuff the Dashboard does for me with just one key press!  Just hitting F12 lets me see:

• my daily plans
• the weather reports for my two favorite cities
• how badly I am slaughtering Reversi and Sudoku
• the time in Alberta *and* Hong Kong
• that I need to once again change my pants!  

It's also important to note that this isn't *all* that the Dashboard can do.  It's fair to say that the Dashboard possibilities, like pending sexual harassment suits against the Igloo Coder, are potentially *infinite in number*.
 

Not only can you configure, add, and remove any widgets from the Dashboard, but you can also download new ones.  And there are *tons* of new ones at many different sites.  Trust me, if you have a need that doesn't involve something illegal, the Mac Dashboard probably has something that handles it.  

I'm loathe to use Windows comparisons here, but I can sense many users of Windows Vista thinking the Dashboard looks strikingly familiar to Vista's "Widgets" concept.  It is - because *OS X was doing this prior to Vista's release*!  Some people have claimed in the past that the Mac actually ripped this concept off of Konfabulator anyway - however, the Mac actually had something similar called "Desk Accessories" back in 1984.  So did Konfabulator rip off Apple?  Did Apple rip off Konfabulator?  Did D'Arcy rip off all of his clothes in front of his John Bristowe poster before he wrote his Mac-bashing articles?  Does it *really matter*?  

Frankly, if anything, the dashboard concept is ripping *ME* off; we are both great ideas implemented in a terribly sexy way.  Do you see me crying and fussing about it?  No, because I know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.   Seriously, what better endorsement can I give you other than this thing is using *ME* as the template?! 

Click here for part 2 - TIME MACHINE~!