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Posted by scobleizer // Thu, Oct 20, 2005 3:12 AM
Sidebar lives!
But it's even better, here Sean Alexander, David Streams, and special guest Sanaz Ahari of the Start.com team, demonstrate the new sidebar and gadgets that come in Windows Vista. Plus, we cover the three different kinds of gadgets and show how to build your own.
You can learn more on the Microsoft Gadget site.
Tags: Avalon, Internet+Explorer, WinFX, Windows+XP, Windows+Vista, Windows+Mobile, Architecture
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| Clip Length: 00:21:27
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Replies:
58
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133,530
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Mmm, is the introduction of Sidebars and the likes not following Apple? My son, who runs a imac, seems to think so and he is 15 years old. Could Microsoft not have tried to take a leap into the dark and come up with a more inventive concept? The introduction of gadgets is starting to produce a fresher desktop but it has been done before. Is it not time to move on? I suspect that now Microsoft has taken them up Apple will move on and introduce something new. Sheep and Bah seem to spring to mind right now. And no I am NOT Welsh! :-)
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AndyC
Because the alternative is worse
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You realise, of course, that the sidebar and gadgets were seen in the Longhorn pre-beta long before Apple's Dashboard was even a glint in Steve Jobs eye...
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Hey David,
I was at that presentation at PDC 
You had that laptop at the "sidebar" table in the big room...
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I know MS did the sidebar before apple(IIRC there was a program before
both of them) But calling it gadgets? C'mon guys, just opening
yourselfs up.
Widget
Gadget
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Was looking forward to this interview. When I was in Seattle, the
wonderful Mr. Scoble showed my wife and I around MS a bit. If I
recall correctly while we were there, they were discussing when this
video was going to be up and how they just got it approved for Channel9.
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 | AndyC wrote:
You realise, of course, that the sidebar and gadgets were seen in the Longhorn pre-beta long before Apple's Dashboard was even a glint in Steve Jobs eye... |
http://www.konfabulator.com/cartoon/partFour.html
Don't you mean Konfabulator was a glint in Steve Jobs eye? That "widget" project was released in February 2003. When did the Longhorn pre-beta come out?
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| Togora wrote:
Mmm, is the introduction of Sidebars and the likes not following Apple? My son, who runs a imac, seems to think so and he is 15 years old. Could Microsoft not have tried to take a leap into the dark and come up with a more inventive concept? The introduction of gadgets is starting to produce a fresher desktop but it has been done before. Is it not time to move on? I suspect that now Microsoft has taken them up Apple will move on and introduce something new. Sheep and Bah seem to spring to mind right now. And no I am NOT Welsh! :-) |
Remember, Apple and co. are focused on the end users. They're not focused on developers.. I would imagine the difference between Widgets and Gadgets is not in "what can you do", but "How easy can you build this?" After all, it's this reason you can go into a best buy and find thousands of PC programs. and a dozen Apple apps. (I know, more than that.. Gimme a break.. )
Anyone agree? (on my first point, not my cheap jab at Apple)
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| Thornton Mellon wrote:
What's a Widget?
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| Professor Barbay wrote:
It's a fictional product, it doesn't matter.
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| Thornton Mellon wrote:
Fictional Product, tell that to the bank..
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AndyC
Because the alternative is worse
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| jsrfc58 wrote:
Don't you mean Konfabulator was a glint in Steve Jobs eye? That "widget" project was released in February 2003. When did the Longhorn pre-beta come out? |
Well, Paul Thurrott had screenshots of the sidebar as far back as November 2002. Make of that what you will...
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| AndyC wrote:
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jsrfc58 wrote:
Don't you mean Konfabulator was a glint in Steve Jobs eye? That "widget" project was released in February 2003. When did the Longhorn pre-beta come out? | Well, Paul Thurrott had screenshots of the sidebar as far back as November 2002. Make of that what you will... |
And then, I suppose to add to that, on the Konfabulator site, it said it was an idea he was thinking about five years before February 2003 (and the project was underway in 2002, but it just wasn't released until February 2003).
So, it's the old "who came up with it first" innovation argument. Which is then usually followed closely by the "yeah, but when did it arrive on MY platform?" argument.
Not that any of this productive. 
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Although the video mentioned a few times that you could use your gadgets on the web and on your desktop, it didn't really mention any of the limitations that I assume must be present. I'm assuming that if I write my gadget in WPF, it's not going to work on the web, but it wasn't really addressed. Is what I'm thinking correct?
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Is there anybody working at Microsoft who isn't a Program Manager ? 
It always goes: I'm ..... Program Manager on the .... team.
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WPF supports the running of "Web Browser Applications", which are slightly different than the model that the Sidebar WPF gadgets will support. However you will be able to create a Web Browser Application with WPF with just a few XAML tweaks, reusing your existing layout and logic.
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| brianteutsch[msft] wrote:
WPF supports the running of "Web Browser Applications", which are slightly different than the model that the Sidebar WPF gadgets will support. However you will be able to create a Web Browser Application with WPF with just a few XAML tweaks, reusing your existing layout and logic. |
I haven't watched the vidio yet, but...
I'm guessing that the only way to write Gadgets is to use .NET. So then whether you run it in your browser or in the Sidebar it will run in a sort of "protected" mode so that your "safe" from malicious code. And don't forget that the only browser that they will probably run in will be IE7+.
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watching it right now, but this is the biggest thing im worried about!
ARE THEY RESIZABLE?
Seing that everything is vector based, they could/should all be
infinitly be able to be resized to 999x999pixels or even 1x1 pixels.
Im a compact man and i want as much stuff in smallest space as possible.
I think that this is a huge thing that needs to be taken into consideration.
Also can i write gadgets in Visual Studio?
Like make a C# application and make it viewable as a gadget?
And is there a exe->gadget convertor for .NET v2.0 Applications?
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| CRPietschmann wrote:
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brianteutsch[msft] wrote:
WPF supports the running of "Web Browser Applications", which are slightly different than the model that the Sidebar WPF gadgets will support. However you will be able to create a Web Browser Application with WPF with just a few XAML tweaks, reusing your existing layout and logic. |
I haven't watched the vidio yet, but...
I'm guessing that the only way to write Gadgets is to use .NET. So then whether you run it in your browser or in the Sidebar it will run in a sort of "protected" mode so that your "safe" from malicious code. And don't forget that the only browser that they will probably run in will be IE7+. |
We've announced that gadgets can be written in either DHTML or by using Windows Platform Foundation (.NET). The DHTML will have some small additions - such as events for moving the gadget on and of the sidebar - but other than that they will simply be HTML.
Additionally, we will have different security levels. Gadgets can run in a protected mode, or request more permission when they open so that they can interact with the machine.
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| balupton wrote:
watching it right now, but this is the biggest thing im worried about!
ARE THEY RESIZABLE?
Seing that everything is vector based, they could/should all be infinitly be able to be resized to 999x999pixels or even 1x1 pixels.
Im a compact man and i want as much stuff in smallest space as possible.
I think that this is a huge thing that needs to be taken into consideration.
Also can i write gadgets in Visual Studio?
Like make a C# application and make it viewable as a gadget?
And is there a exe->gadget convertor for .NET v2.0 Applications?
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We are definitely sensitive to the sizing of the Sidebar, and are making sure there are ways to have it take up as little space as necessary. Since gadgets can be written in WPF and DHTML, some gadgets aren't vector-based.
We are finalizing the developer experience, but you will be able to use Visual Studio in some fashion. For WPF gadgets, you will be able to compile your application as a gadget, but I do not expect .NET applications to be made into gadgets without recompiling. Although it will be simple.
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Alrite so resizing is going to be per gadget based? So it depends if the gadget developer wants to add it or not.
Alrite I love where Microsoft is going with Vista and WPF (well done).
And with the introduction of Web Gadgets, are you aiming for the web to
be application based in the future, so my webpage can be an application
made in Visual Studio - I know this raises alot of issues, but it is a
good step in communications.
An example of this would be like going
Start->Run->http://ClockGadget.com and I have a clock similiar to
the one in this video apear, without the constraints of current Web
Browsers.
To me thats the future.
And back to topic, Do those Web Gadgets use WPF and XAML?
I would love to see rich internet experiences like Gadgets inside my webpage.
So like for weather.com have All these wonderfull 3D Gadgets of clouds and sunshine telling me my weather!
Like say for the topic i mentioned in the above paragraph with this
one, a brilliant example would be the NorthFace Application as a
WebPage!
Alrite I hope you like my opinions and reply quickly
-balupton
PS. and again brilliant work!
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OS/2 Warp 4 with Sidebar......
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So is there a site where it would explain the limitations, and how i would write a gadget? I would like to get started in making one.
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Good video but the host (the guy holding the camera) is annoying. If he wants to joke around all day, try doing standup.
Anyway, good video.
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QNX also had a side bar, NeXT had a sidebar, Irix has a sidebar App available for it? Who did more aestheically pleasing and funtional? Microsoft did. I dont consider it ripping off, theytook a concept and did a better job than what has been done thus far.
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I am highly skeptical of this. Call me old fashioned but I still keep all my applications fullscreened and alt-tab thru them at a hellish pace.
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