Dashboard iPad app rejected by Apple, made open source instead
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 9th 2010 4:32PM
posted April 9th 2010 4:32PM
So you spend hours and hours toiling away on an app that adds some much-needed Dashboard-like functionality to the iPad (sort of, more on that later) only to have it rejected by Apple -- what do you do? If you're Hongrich, developer of the slightly problematically-named "Dashboard" app, you make it open source. Of course, you'll have to be a developer yourself to actually try out the app, and it's not exactly the full-fledged Dashboard that many have been hoping for, but rather a standalone app that simply lets you run and arrange widgets however you like. Still, it's definitely a start. Head on past the break for a demo video, and hit up the source link to download it yourself.
I love Apple and the iFad. In fact I made a video devoted to my love of all things iFad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6jcruGY764
He broken his developers agreement with apple by making a rejected app "open source" So he's just asking to be sued.
Apple is LAZY. When you're at the top of your game, you forget what got you there. iTunes causes kernel panics on my $5k MacPro. The times, they are a changin'. It hurts my teeth to say it, but MSFTs new phone OS is actually looking fresh & innovative. Let's hope they've learned a little humility and the MBA's get out of the way to let it be a success. Honestly, I've been an Apple freak since the 80's but they've descended to producing nothing but locked-down thin clients for the iTunes store. Newsflash: you're not rooting for the underdog anymore, Apple doesn't NEED you, and they'll make that clear in no uncertain terms just like they did to Adobe if it lines their pockets. Psych majors: Isn't all of this derivative of Steve's id reacting to the hurtful rejection from the Beatles (he did name a notification sound "Sosumi") when they did sue him? Steve, get over it. John Lennon is dead & John Scully can't hurt you anymore.
@sferic2000
I know people will not be happy about your post, but there is a real argument and point to be made here.
In the iPad launch, many of the reviews will note that it runs great with a few occasional browser and App crashes.
Why on earth is such a closed system with locked content and devices crashing at all? How can we have something like Windows7 where if you see a crash of even an application more than once a month it is an indication of a major problem with your system.
Even when working on OS X, I gasp every time I hit application crashes and even the occasional kernel panic of fun, as this just doesn't exist so much anymore in the Windows world, which is highly ironic.
@TheNetAvenger ROTFL you must be F*CKING kidding, I never saw a kernel panic on OSX in almost 4 years of using it in work and home, the moment I installed WIN7 trial on a home server the whole forgotten hell resurrected, even just after install...
he should have just put it on cydia store.
Wow, this guy just made a very good implementation, with attention to details.
Instead of rejecting his App, Apple may hire him right now.
@curio He basically copied the whole Dashboard of the OSX and put it on Apple's own store. He will get rejected for sure.
@Atkins same thinking here ?! You just can rip puff someone else's UI then sell it as your own you see only apple can do that there the only pens who can break their rules!
@Atkins same thinking here ?! You just can rip puff someone else's UI then sell it as your own you see only apple can do that, there the only ones who can break everyones rules! Steve will just reject the app then include it in iPad os 5 or 4 as a feature and say he made it!
@Crack it "Steve will just reject the app then include it in iPad os 5 or 4 as a feature and say he made it!"
Of course, because Apple made it for the OSX. It's theirs.
@curio
In Apple world this is true. In the rest of the world, not so much.
One company I worked with made several products that often added to or recreated Microsoft ideas that were left out of a product or not offered in the product.
And many of these were direct recreations of MS's UI and even implementation just somewhere they didn't have it or in a slighty different way that they implemented it.
What did MS do to this company? Offer then developer support and even helped to iron out some of the tricks that MS had used to create the concepts themselves originally. All knowing that some of the products were even DIRECT competitors to Microsoft products, and they still worked with the company offering tons of support.
In the OSS world, the same is true with the original code authors lending a hand or offering help and encouraging the new implementation or offering the concept on different platforms.
The only ecosystem where this is not true in modern computing is a few fringe companies and everything Apple does.
Yep this makes perfect sense...
There is an App for that, unless we don't think you need it or we want to suck more money out of you and the App might stop us...
Why is everyone wondering why this app was rejected its kind of obvious its a direct rip of apples own lol
Is there an Apple related topic that you don't troll? So much hate...
now that pisses me off. some developer puts all his hard work into something like this only to get it rejected by apple? thats just not right.
@deepen03 totaly agree
Apple 5ucks with this rejection. Thats a great app and they know.
of course they rejected. its a 100% copy of apples own dashboard on mac. why would they allow this? maybe is they made a dashboard but called it something else and changed and made an original design rather than copying apples, it would get through.
It looks way to much like Dashboard. Just like iBooks looks way to much like Delicious Library.
@MatthewA I think I messed up my too's and to's. :/
@MatthewA
Dashboard and widgets are a ripoff of Konfabulator which is now Yahoo Widgets.
So Apple is upset that someone else is using something they stole first.