It is possible to completely disable OS X Dashboard. On old Mac’s this could save some memory and cpu resources. Use the following command and kill the current running Dashboard.
Dashboard
Disable Dashboard as a space in Mission Control
By default Dashboard appears as the first Spaces in mission control. If you are not a Dashboard user, you can hide Dashboard from appearing as Spaces with the following command:
Show OS X Dashboard Widgets on your Desktop
Enable OS X Dashboard widgets on the desktop, with the F12 or F4 key. After applying the defaults write command activate Dashboard, click on the widget you want to move to your desktop, and while holding the mouse button down, click F12/F4 again.