A feature mimicking Apple's "widgets" scheduled to appear in Microsoft's Windows Vista will also show in the current Windows XP operating system, a Vista product manager said. According to Sean Alexander, a group product manager with the Redmond, Washington-based developer, the so-called "gadgets" in Vista would be produced for Windows XP as well. for those who dont know what gadgets are: adgets are small, independent applications, often web-enabled, that provide information -- a constantly-updated weather report, for instance -- or serve one-off functions, such as an onscreen notepad. They are similar to the widgets which Apple's Mac OS X offers, and to those that Yahoo's Konfabulator already puts on Windows desktops. Although the news should be welcomed by XP users, one analyst questioned Microsoft's decision to give so much of Vista to owners of an older OS. "Gadgets would join a growing list of Windows Vista technologies being made available for Windows XP, including Internet Explorer 7 and WinFX components," said JupiterResearch's Joe Wilcox on his blog. "Backward availability makes sense, because so many people use Windows XP and will for some time…[but] I remain concerned that these kinds of decisions will create marketing problems for Microsoft, as it tries to convince customers that Windows XP isn't good enough." I think this is a neat featuer but then again useless, but it does add to the fun factor.
i love how you started this post with 'a feature mimicking apple'. it made my day, really. funny how microsofts only 'innovations' are cheap knock-offs of mac. every time.
Here is the plain truth as long as widgets are concerned... DesktopX -> Konfabulator -> OS X Finally adopts widgets as part of its OS. Widgets had been around over 4 years before Apple decided to throw them into the OS. Get your facts straight, it's because of such hardcore yet ignorant fans of Apple that I don't go around the internet admitting I use an iMac half the time...
The way I see it, even if MS is implementing some features which os x has, weather they are copied or not they will most likely put a huge hurt on os x and take away what little advatages it had in the visual apartment, thats for sure.
