Windows Gadgets: Programming In the Small

If there is one thing to like about Windows Vista, it is the Sidebar and Gadgets. Gadgets are handy, useful, and/or entertaining mini-apps that run in the Sidebar. You know -- the kind of applications that iPhone users like to crow about every chance they get. ShaZam, Hot Popcorn, and the like.

Alas, Windows Gadgets have never taken off the way iPhone Apps or even Nokia Widgets have. Part of the reason for this, of course, is platform related. Small-footprint mobile devices lend themselves to small-footprint applications that keep users in touch with the world via mash-ups that tell you what the weather is like where you're headed or the name of that song playing in the coffee shop. There are other reasons Windows Gadgets haven't taken off, of course, the least of which is the popularity (or lack of it) of Vista itself.

But Windows Gadgets may be gearing up for a second wind, thanks to two factors -- the release of Windows 7 and the continued popularity of netbooks. Not only does Windows 7 seem to be gaining traction never enjoyed by Vista, but it supports features -- like MultiTouch and Gestures -- ideally suited for mobile devices. Granted, we won't be seeing $200 netbooks with multitouch displays anytime soon, but that time will come. As for the popularity of Windows 7 on netbooks, it's already in the works. At the recent Intel Developer Forum, you couldn't turn around without stumbling over yet another Atom-powered netbook running Windows 7. Even Nokia's Booklet 3G netbook rolled out last month running Windows 7. That said, what may be Windows 7's biggest competitor in the netbook world -- Moblin -- was getting its share of attention, too.

But back to Gadgets.... Windows 7 sports Gadgets for clocks, calendars, and the weather, as well as those for a UBD Radio Internet radio connection. Then there's the whole world of Google Gadgets, made possible by the Gadget API, which lets you build HTML and JavaScript apps to be embedded in webpages and other apps. Google even provides a Gadget Maker. Then there's Amnesty Generator, which lets you convert millions of widgets into Gadgets for your Sidebar.

If you want to take a quick look at a really practical Gadget in action, Gaston Hillar spotlights the really practical All CPU Meter Gadget in his article All CPU Meter: A Simple Windows Gadget to Monitor Cores.

Gadgets. They're fun, useful, and generally easy to create -- and it's likely they'll be in your future.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 03:32 PM  Permalink