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Apple has since developed its own widget environment, Dashboard, and integrated it into the latest version of OS X. It was assumed that Konfabulator would quietly die; instead the developers brought out a Windows version good enough to attract the attention of the Internet search giant.

Widgets are small, floating applications that give access to specific information or tools, and provide easy and quick access to Web-based data without needing to resort to a browser. Popular widgets include weather and stock trackers and a yellow pages search.

Yahoo! are expected to use the technology to make it easier to access its services and, like Apple, is keen for developers to build their own widgets.

'We are lowering the bar and letting people do a lot more with our material,' said Toni Schneider, vice president of the company's developer network.

In a bid to encourage take up, the current version of Konfabulator is now available for free from www.konfabulator.com (with a refund for anyone who has purchased it recently).

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However Yahoo! is expecting the software to make it some money, by driving traffic to websites where it can sell more advertising.

Konfabulator CEO Arlo Rose said that the deal will give widget developers 'whole new buckets of content' to access.

'Another reason we're excited about it, is the very cool big picture,' he said. 'See, when we first thought of Konfabulator, one of the key pieces was accessing Internet content. Well guess what Yahoo has boat-loads of? Yup. And what's really great is that they're starting to open it up to everyone in a format that's useable outside the traditional browser, as XML feeds. Guess how they're going to provide real-world examples of how to use this stuff. Yup... Konfabulator.'

The software platform will now be known as Yahoo! Widgets although the core engine will continue to be called Konfabulator for the time being.

Alongside the statement about Yahoo!, the Konfabulator website tells the brief story of the software in neat cartoon form, managing to do so without any reference to Apple. Rose was not so coy a year ago, when Apple first revealed details of Dashboard, describing the company as 'insulting'.

'I think it was pretty uncouth of Apple to steamroll us rather than work with us, he said in an interview. 'It would have made them look good to work with a third party developer to make their app better and more integrated than just wiping them out.'

Although it appears that he was wrong about the wiping out part.