Microsoft Gadgets

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Microsoft Desktop Gadgets run on the Windows Vista Desktop.
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Microsoft Desktop Gadgets run on the Windows Vista Desktop.

Contents

[edit] Microsoft Gadgets

Microsoft Gadgets are Microsoft's implementation of desktop widgets; small specialized applications that are designed to do simple tasks, such as clocks, calendars, RSS notifiers or search tools. They can run on the desktop and on the Windows Sidebar. Windows Sidebar and Desktop Gadgets are a feature of the forthcoming Windows Vista operating system.

  1. Sidebar gadgets - run on the desktop or be docked onto, run on the Windows Sidebar.
  2. Web gadgets - run on a web site, such as Live.com or Spaces.Live.com
  3. SideShow gadgets - run on auxiliary external displays, such as on the outside of a laptop or even on an LCD panel in a keyboard, and potentially mobile phones and other devices.

[edit] Windows Sidebar

The Windows Sidebar is a panel found in either the right side (default) or the left side of the Windows desktop. It will be integrated with the Windows Vista operating system, the upcoming version of Microsoft Windows.

The Sidebar is a widget engine for Desktop Gadgets, mini-applications which can be used to simultaneously display different information such as the system time, Internet-powered features such as RSS feeds, and to control external applications such as Windows Media Player. Desktop Gadgets can run on the Windows desktop and on the Windows sidebar.

[edit] Comparisons to Dashboard

The current version of Apple Computer's operating system Mac OS X v10.4, released in April 2005, features a desktop layer called Dashboard that uses similar widgets, causing many comparisons between the Sidebar and Dashboard. Microsoft initially demonstrated a preliminary "Tile"-based Sidebar [1] [2] in early builds of Windows Longhorn but has only recently adopted the "Gadgets" approach, which has led to accusations of Microsoft copying Apple's applications. Apple supporters cite the original Mac OS "Desk Accessories" as the first appearance of such miniature auxiliary programs as well as Docklings in NeXTStep, while others note similar widget layers like the Yahoo! Widget Engine available for Windows and Mac OS X and DesktopX on Windows.

[edit] Development

Gadgets can be written in one of two languages:

According to Microsoft, it will be possible for the different types of gadgets to run on different environments. For example, web gadgets can also be run on the Windows sidebar and Windows desktop.

[edit] Other Widget products

Other products in the desktop widget market include:

[edit] External links

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