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Mainly in that gadgets are generally able to be created by end-user and not developers. You could make a calculator gadget. But generally, gadgets (and widgets) are not designed to be full-fledged applications. I.e. I wouldn't suggest someone writing Photoshop as a gadget.

As opposed to what? Gadgets, widgets, doohickeys, etc. are all "marketing names".

However, those who are "into" this thing can make the distinction between what is a gadget and what is a widget.

Gadgets contain the actaul run-time code within them. Whether that be gadgets created with DesktopX Pro or ones created using Visual Studio 2005 / Sparkle. Microsoft's gadget implementation is .gadget and is a ZIP file renamed to contain a XAML based gadget. But it's a full blown stand alone program still. It's not relying on some bundled run-time.

Konfabulator, Kapsules, DesktopX Standard, and other widgets contain only that widget's specific code inside the .exe / .widget /whatever extension and then a second program (Konfabulator, DesktopX, etc.) contains the actual run time that the widget needs to run.

In short, gadgets and widgets ARE different. It's not just a marketing distinction.

Last week we coverd here on Neowin Microsoft's Gadget home page and their gadget strategy.

This week, as part of the continuing coverage, we're covering the opening of a Gadget library website where people can distribute/sell their gadget creations.

There is no "Vista" category because gadgets, even Avalon based, will work on Windows XP as well.

As for "censoring" and "by the rules": See http://www.neowin.net/rules.htm

Comments like "old news" or "This isn't news" and related are not welcome on the news comments page.

Neowin and its staff determines what is to be on the news page. Widgets, skins, themes, etc. have long been of interest to our readers here and websites, content, and technologies that relate to those things are going to be covered.

Sometimes when a comment is a response to another comment there's no way to save the response to the comment if the original comment is OT.

With regards to Sidebar, gadgets, all gadgets, will work on the Sidebar at some point though it will likely reguire a SideBar extender applet (a free download to allow Sidebar to support addtional content). Right now, Sidebar is still very early in development.

Down the line, the plan is to display an icon by gadgets to indicate whether they are made with Windows Presentation Foundation or not (since those will have different hardware/software requirements).

DesktopX Pro's next major version is expected to allow developers to export their creations as Avalon-based gadgets. Microsoft's .gadget specification is an open standard. You're not forced into any particular solution to create them. Also, Windows Vista is scheduled to ship with a compiler so you won't necessarily even have to purchase Visual Studio to make them, it appears there will be a free way to make them.

See this article: http://www.wincustomize.com/Articles.aspx?AID=86763 (Microsoft's Gadgets explained).

That's a good idea.

DesktopX preceeds Konfabulator by over 3 years. Sorry but Konfabulator didn't originate this concept, not by a long shot.

Feel free to put a DesktopX widget up against a Konfabulator widget and compare the memory use of both.

When someone makes a news item, it doesn't use their handle. I have no control over that. My day-job is at Stardock. But let's face it guys, if DesktopGadgets.com were being made by Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Corel, Symantec, Opera, or Google there'd be no complaining. It's only because Stardock happens to own the site that some people have an issue and that's based on age-old forum debates from msstyles vs. WindowBlinds and that kind of thing.

Stardock also owns WinCustomize.com so it's logical that it would create a site for desktopgadget distribution as well.

People can easily access all the news items I've done. I was the one who coverd most of the PDC stuff for Neowin. As a percentage, my news items rarely cover anything Stardock-related.

Consider the last two days of Neowin news:
New Oblivion Wallpapers/Celebrating 100th 360 Wallpaper! (gamers)
Opera 8.5 Free (main)
Steve Jobs Slams “Greedy” Record Companies
NVIDIA Announces Geforce 6100 Integrated Graphics
Gadgets get their own site (main)
Indepth Look at the Vista Interface
Forceware 'Rel80' goes for ATi's jugular
Opera announces 'Merlin' (main)
BitTorrent flaw allows ratio cheating
More proof of Google WIFI (main)
U3, partners add intelligence to USB drives
Opera 8.50: Now completely free of charge
CCleaner v1.23.160 (Final) Released (software)
XPize 4.0 MCE (Final) Released (software)
Picasa 2.1.0 (software)
Unlocker 1.7.2 (software)


19/Sep/2005
Black and White 2 Goes Gold (gamers)
Crytek shows off DirectX 10 in-game footage (gamers)
TGS 2005: Full Japanese PlayStation 3 lineup revealed (gamers)
Worm creates fake Google site (main)
PowerUser.tv Episode 7: Google, Skype/eBay, Games & more (main)
Mail Beta refresh on it's way (main)
Office 12 Beta Invite & Video Preview (main)
Dell Latitudes Ship with Mandriva Linux (main)
AutoPatcher 2K September 2005 (software)

18/Sep/2005
PDC 2005: Wrap up (main)
Mandriva Linux 2006 RC2 released (main)
Kapsules Version 0.9.9 Released (software)

17/Sep/2005
Get scared on October 18th - F.E.A.R. goes gold (gamers)
TGS 2005: Final Fantasy XI Expands Again (gamers)
TGS 2005: PS3 controller still not final (gamers)
Quake 4 Multiplayer Movie Trailer (gamers)
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Videos (gamers)
High-Res Metal Gear Solid 4 Screens! (gamers)
XBox Live Receives an Emmy (gamers)
Nintendo Revolution Controller Revealed (gamers)
Apple's Motion to Dismiss Denied in Antitrust Case (main)
Toshiba develops MP3 player with 60 hour fuel cell battery (main)
Intel Celeron to Gain Improved AMD64 Compatibility (main)
Microsoft Scraps Old Encryption in New Code (main)
IE Flaw Puts Windows XP SP2 at Risk (main)
Microsoft Shakes Up Corporate Licensing (main)
Mozilla Readies Another Firefox Security Makeover (main)
UC Berkeley Recovers Stolen Laptop (main)
New Internet Domains On The Way (main)
Canada to Receive Nationwide Wireless Broadband (main)
Linus' Attempt to Trademark "Linux" Rejected (main)
Windows Vista build 5219 released to testers (main)
Macromedia Flash Player 8 (software)

The fact is, Neowin is very neutral on what it covers. Moreover, Microsoft's announcement of supporting gadgets IS news. Gadgets will be a major part of Windows Vista. Therfore, major gadget-related endeavors ARE news regardless of the source.

Last edited by 2104 on 20 Sep 2005 - 22:21

Often my news items get accused of being SD-related even when they have nothing to do with it SD.

It's a good thing that people don't know the day-jobs of other news moderators. Imagine if someone's day job here was working for Microsoft!