SuperSite Blog

"Based on the trend we saw in M1, the thing which really shouldn’t be called the Sidebar anymore will be embedded into the desktop even further, eventually annihilating the concept of a sidebar in the first place. The gadgets might remain on the side, but for all intents and purposes, the gadgets might just stay on the desktop, ready and willing to be called to the front using a key combination (not different from what you see in Vista now: Win+Space to pull gadgets to the front in Vista)."

@mikegalos - That kind of blows your statement last week where you said "As for the pictures, I will say that Apple missed a key point about docking gadgets that's a key part of the MSR white paper and both Konfabulator and SideShow." all to hell, doesn't it?

--tayme

I guess we'll find out when we actually see M3. Right now that statement's way too vague to say whether Sidebar in Windows "7" maintains the concepts of the MSR whitepaper or not.

Can you post or send me a link to that whitepaper? I'd like to read up on it.

--tayme

There are a couple. The best thing is to go to Microsoft Research's site http://research.microsoft.com and search for sideshow then you'll get all the papers and presentations.

(It's also just a great place to browse.)

I've really been disappointed in the sidebar, in that it hasn't drawn as many created gadgets as, say, Yahoo! gadgets. It could be SO much more useful.

That said, I LOVE The sidebar. With a widescreen monitor, I put the Windows bar on the right side of my screen and sidebar on the left and do my work in-between. It lets me see everything pertinent without having to "call anything up" with keypresses.

@JuryDuty,

I absolutely agree whole heartely that the gadgets haven't lived up to its promise. I really haven't found any gadgets that have been useful enough, to justify activating the thing.

Since I don't have a widescreen monitor yet, I really don't have a use for the sidebar. I've shut it down in Vista and its a feature I'd have to reactiviate if I had a larger widescreen over 20 inches.

With all that being said, I'm definitely more optimistic about Windows Seven. The blogs show that people are weighing in and at this juncture every seems to be on track. We'll see as we head into PDC what happens.

@JuryDuty, I agree.  I have a widescreen monitor, and gadgets work well in that situation.  But the quality and variety of gadgets is really dissapointing.  I used Yahoo! Widgets for a while, and the sheer number of gadgets made it much more compelling.

I have sidebar off on my laptop (except in the experimental user where I have it on so I can watch Chrome expand to fill the memory available--it's a 1 gig laptop).  I have it on on the iMac, but not doing anything exciting.

Oh--and on the laptop I do have a nice WiFi signal showing thing that I turn on every few months.

@tayme, MikeGalos:

Mike, were you referring to the sidebar or to SideShow (which is what you'd said) in your comments cited by tayme?  I think some signals may be getting crossed here...

james3mg

What became Windows Sidebar in Vista started out as a Microsoft Research product named Sideshow.

Hang on, isn't sideshow an API for showing info pn a seccond screen, or even on a mobile device? there was mention, I'm sure, that Laptops could have little OLED displays showing currently playing songs, and WiFi signal status etc on their lids, so they could be used as a (large) music player whilst having the lid closed?

Sidebar, on the other hand, is a dock for desktop gadget applets?

In fact, type "sideshow" into vista's search box, and the control comes up.

Explain, Mike, how this "became" sidebar, if both features still coexist (even if they are severely under-utilised_

@gorath, thanks for backing me up- I knew I wasn't crazy ;)

re: underutilized: I've only seen one sideshow device (besides my WinMobile phone, which shows up in my SideShow applet...ironically, it was on a Dell XPS tower, and nearly useless.  Laptops I can understand...towers not so much.  Most of the options on it were bits installed by Dell- the built-in Windows options weren't very good.  Maybe the first time I've been more impressed with an OEM's software for a Windows feature than the built-in (and usually subsequently disabled) stuff they replace.

gorath and james3mb

Almost a decade ago Microsoft Research did a project on human factors and UI which came up with a prototype they called Sideshow. It got used a lot internally at Microsoft starting in 2001 or so.

A little later, the Windows team took the MSR Sideshow project and used it to develop Windows Sidebar which finally shipped in Windows Vista.

Later in the project, the name "Sideshow" was reused for the Windows Sideshow which is an unrelated part of Vista that ties in secondary hardware information devices.

The Sidebar, I totally dismissed it at first, now I use it hourly, to check my stocks,(ouch) weather Cpu usage and my calender. I don't need a whole lot more so I don't see a need for too much more. A bandwidth usage might be useful now that the ISP's are starting to limit everyone.

My Win. 7 wish lists starts with copy speed, which is still not that hot, boot up times aren't bad but could be better. Multi-thread support needs to happen as well.  

So..... Docking gadgets is not really anything to do with Sideshow as we know it then?

I'm confused.

Did you make a typo? It's ok to admit it :p

@whiplash55

On the Engineering Windows Seven blog, all the elements on your wish list have been thoroughly complained about. I'm sure Steven Sinofsky and Company has read it a few hundred times. Hopefully, the Seven team will listen and get it done.

gorath

Typo?

We were talking about the Microsoft Reseach project from a decade ago which WAS called sideshow and I was saying to look at research.microsoft.com and search on sideshow to read the research papers.

That reseach eventually became Windows Sidebar