Being laidback, easygoing types, the spouse and I often end up having long and tedious conversations about where to go eat, along the lines of: “Are you hungry?” “I guess so.” “Let’s go out.” “OK.” “Any ideas?” “Umm… don’t mind, really.” “What kind of food do you feel like?” “I don’t really have any strong preference.” I used to have similar problems with Richard in Cambridge, and came up with an idea I called Oblique Restaurants.
Regarding the Apple “copying Konfabulator” controversy: The idea of desktop widgets that pop up on the screen when you press a key is far from new. In 1984, Borland launched Sidekick 1.0 for MS-DOS. When you pressed a magic keystroke, a calculator, notepad and calendar would appear overlaid on your screen. Push the key again, and they vanished. Also in 1984, Apple’s original Macintosh operating system had Desk Accessories, small tools which weren’t full applications, but which could be launched on top of your application windows.