Those of you who are not Mac folks (and shame on you for that!) can ignore this one.

But why didn't the Konfabulator guys just exclaim that Apple validated their idea (i.e., Dashboard), then proceed to port (and charge for) the Konfabulator Widgets to Dashboard?

Never expect longevity when all you're doing is filling a hole that the OS manufacturer left in their OS. Duh.

For more on the topic, I highly recommend the Daring Fireball.