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Microsoft "Gadgets"

mkaake said:
Anyway, Jack Spurr in Yarmouth (if that's his real name anyway) is having a VERY good laugh at the expense of mac-heads right now...
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Clever slur! "mac heads" :D But if there's a joke it's at the expense of Microsoft: it highlights their reputation for copycatting quite effectively. The very fact of it being believable says it all. The timing just after the OS X styling in the new Office was revealed is perfect.
 
rossoUK said:
Man thats soooooooooo not on, I hate windows even more! :mad: Damn you Gatesy

p.s. Check out the recycle bin, direct copy! WTF
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All I can say is that immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. :cool: ;)
 
notjustjay said:
Is that site for real?

Lots of comments attached to the blog entry, most of them arguing how Microsoft copied the Mac (some refuting that claim too, but...) I would think Microsoft wouldn't be too eager to solicit such blatant negative feedback.

Also, as one of those commenters noticed, if you look up the microsoftgadgets.com domain, it's owned by some guy in Nova Scotia. Doesn't really look like an official Microsoft site...
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It's real. I saw the link for Microsoftgadgets.com on PCWorld. [link to article]
 
From the website:

"Have you ever wondered how new technologies get developed in Microsoft? Wonder how a cool idea goes from incubation to release?"

Well, when Microsoft releases a "new technology" or a "cool idea" let me know. Right now, there isn't very much to wonder about.

"Well, we’re excited to announce that we’ve started a blog designed to bring you closer to the process with the Gadgets blog and we’re kicking it off at the PDC. What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web."

According to the Oxford American dictionary, the word gadget is defined as "a small mechanical device or tool." So Microsoft uses a term that explicitly describes a mechanical object to describe a category of very un-mechanical software. Sounds a wee bit like someone hastily grabbing for a synonym for the term widget (which computer users understand as software) in order to jump on the dashboard-konfabulator bandwagon.

On the other hand, the Oxford definition of the word "widget" specifically includes this computer-centric description: "a component of a user interface that operates in a particular way"

Whether it's widgets or gadgets, Microsoft can hardly describe them as a "new category of mini-application." Apple first demoed it's widgets publicly in January of 2004, and released Tiger in April of this year. Konfabulator's widgets proceeded them all. Something tells me that Apple's list of more than 1000 independently programmed widgets on it's website since Apple first introduced Tiger showed instant widget acceptance and success. And that new wave of developer interest in widgets caught Microsoft, once again, by surprise. And what happens when Microsoft is caught by surprise? I'll leave that for the final sentence in this post.

"Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business."

Really Microsoft? A "weather gadget?" A "RSS Gadget?" When did those ideas "incubate" in Microsoft's software development? Are we going to get "closer" to that?

"Desktop Gadgets can developed using Windows Presentation Foundation, DHTML/Atlas, and even ActiveX controls"

You've got to be kidding me. Microsoft is still using ActiveX in Vista? One of the present Windows technologies relied upon famously by malware authors to inject worms, et al into Windows and you're carrying it forward into Vista? Well, so much for security improvements if Microsoft is going to be that ignorant and careless about application/OS interdependence and known methods of intrusion.

"Start.com is a place where consumers can customize the web to their liking by adding their own sources of content including RSS web-feeds and web-based Gadgets that extend functionality of their site- anything from custom calendars to service integration."

Well, say hello to .Mac :)

"The concept of Gadgets for the Windows Desktop is one that has a long lineage, dating back to Microsoft research projects and prior"

Yep. "Prior" is the operative word here.

The verdict: Now matter how much Microsoft tries to contort the description of "gadgets" into some abomination of originality, in this early stage of it's non-operational, operating system, their own development timeline never describes or envisions the operational use of "gadgets" in Microsoft's Vista plans - until 2005 ("Feedback from customers and hardware industry dynamics are being taken into account, particularly adding support for DHTML-based Gadgets").

Unfortunately, it's still very much "monkey see, monkey do" at Microsoft.
 
dashboard-konfabulator bandwagon
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Or DesktopX.

Whether it's widgets or gadgets, Microsoft can hardly describe them as a "new category of mini-application." Apple first demoed it's widgets publicly in January of 2004, and released Tiger in April of this year. Konfabulator's widgets proceeded them all.
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Again, StarDock, the company the helped build the skinning engine in XP, beat Konfabulator by years.
Active Desktop debuted in 98 or 99.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/previous/gallery/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/msj/1097/activedesktop.aspx

http://www.developer.com/net/net/article.php/3378661

"Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business."

Really Microsoft? A "weather gadget?" A "RSS Gadget?" When did those ideas "incubate" in Microsoft's software development? Are we going to get "closer" to that?
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Look at the gadgets in the sidebar.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/pdc/images/image014.jpg
An RSS aggregator, a big ass analog clock, a slideshow for the my pictures folder, a WMP controller, a search box, and a recycle bin (IIRC it's called the basket). All of those things appear in the previous incarnation of the sidebar.

http://www.winsupersite.com/files/pdc2003_sidebar.wmv
http://www.winsupersite.com/files/pdc2003_aero_start_media.wmv
http://www.winsupersite.com/vista/

Feel free to look through this entire gallery of past Longhorn builds.
http://www.jcxp.net/lh_3683_shots/
http://www.jcxp.net/lh_3683_shots/shots/7.jpg

Notice the build number :3683.Lab06_N.020923-1821
2002/09/23

Also notice the part about:
"extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business"

That refers to a couple of Longhorn concept videos from 2003.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/community/events/conceptvid/default.aspx

Well, say hello to .Mac
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Yeah, because we all know how great it is to be able to drag widgets from your .Mac page straight to your desktop.. oh wait...

Or vise-versa or how well that AJAX based RSS/OPML reader on that same page works... oh wait...

http://microsoftgadgets.com/Themes/default/images/banners/banner0.jpg
http://microsoftgadgets.com/Themes/default/images/banners/banner1.jpg

Yep. "Prior" is the operative word here.

The verdict: Now matter how much Microsoft tries to contort the description of "gadgets" into some abomination of originality, in this early stage of it's non-operational, operating system, their own development timeline never describes or envisions the operational use of "gadgets" in Microsoft's Vista plans - until 2005 ("Feedback from customers and hardware industry dynamics are being taken into account, particularly adding support for DHTML-based Gadgets").

Unfortunately, it's still very much "monkey see, monkey do" at Microsoft..
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Except that these "gadgets" is just Active Desktop (1999) with Avalon support and the sidebar from 2002.

Something tells me that Apple's list of more than 1000 independently programmed widgets on it's website since Apple first introduced Tiger showed instant widget acceptance and success. And that new wave of developer interest in widgets caught Microsoft, once again, by surprise. And what happens when Microsoft is caught by surprise? I'll leave that for the final sentence in this post.
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Actually, Stardock's 2000 widgets and objects show success a bit better.

But the reason Apple went with widgets in the first place is because they saw how everybody from eweek to the new york times had made comments about the Longhorn sidebar and how developers were going to start making tons of "applets" for it. Then everybody and their mama jumped on the sidebar and applet bandwagon. Desktop Sidebar came out, then Longhorn Sidebar came out, and Objectbar...
I can't for get DeviantArt and Wincustomize who led the way...
But anyway.. everyone was drooling over the though of developing miniapps and skins for a Longhorn where they would have Avalon, the Sidebar, Active Desktop, and most importantly an unlocked theme engine. Everyone wanted to either develop for Longhorn or copy it.

Apple, in an attempt to counter Longhorn a year early, tried to implement it's most public and obvious features... desktop search and the sidebar. They half-assed the desktop search and ripped off one of their prized ISV's to get Dashboard-- all because they needed something in a hurry and Tiger turned out to be just that... hurried.
 
Wow, people are still arguing about this. Must have missed the point where we noticed it was a fake, but whatever. Guess people want to argue about things.

I used to care about the whole 'who came out with it first' argument, ala konfabulator vs apple... and then I realized - it doesn't really matter, does it? Its about who implements the features better. I don't care that Xerox had a desktop before apple before windows... what I care about is that Apple does it best.

And really, even though this was a hoax - so what? What should we care if redmond did do this? I don't see how it will affect us in any which way, other than giving us one less thing on our list of the 'X' experience that we show off to others...
 
mkaake said:
Wow, people are still arguing about this. Must have missed the point where we noticed it was a fake, but whatever. Guess people want to argue about things.

I used to care about the whole 'who came out with it first' argument, ala konfabulator vs apple... and then I realized - it doesn't really matter, does it? Its about who implements the features better. I don't care that Xerox had a desktop before apple before windows... what I care about is that Apple does it best.

And really, even though this was a hoax - so what? What should we care if redmond did do this? I don't see how it will affect us in any which way, other than giving us one less thing on our list of the 'X' experience that we show off to others...
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It's not a hoax. I've talked to one of the Microsoft gadget developers myself. Not to mention they launched this thing at a big public keynote that you can stream off the net.

It should affect Mac users because there have been a ton of requests to make Microsoft+Stardock gadgets compatible with Dashboard.
 
DCBass said:
as if all this wasn't enough, the web page itself looks surprisingly familiar:

http://microsoftgadgets.com/default.aspx

http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/

note the background...

Here's hoping that Apple won't rest on their laurels in this area and bring even more functionality to Dashboard.
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The only similarity I see is that they are both black. One has vertical navigation the other has horizontal. One is a blog the other is not.

I'm not sure what Apple could add to Dashboard except the ability to use widgets on the desktop.
 
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