And hopefully vice versa.

The current implementation of the sidebar supports, but does not require, WinFX. We want to be as lightweight as possible, loading the heavier stuff on demand. I can't guarantee that will be the final design, but being small and fast is very important to us. I think the Windows Perf team would kick us out of the OS if we weren't. *grin*

Now, if only MS and Apple would get together and hammer out a standard (with extensions on both sides, as per usual, of course), to make it even easier...

Personally, I'm not a big gadget person - I tend to use a single app at a time, maximised to the whole screen. When I want to use a different app, I alt-tab to it. Gadgets will, therefore, mostly be hanging about on the desktop, unseen. System Tray widgets are more my style.

"Microsoft is looking at adding rich internet functionality into Windows XP."

And this is good how, exactly?

This stuff is a security hole. A H-U-U-U-U-G-E sucking security vacuum hoovering up all your online safety and ejecting a blizzard of net.porn spamming worms over your desktop. (Potentially.)

I talk to some folks who fulminate about Microsoft doing this touchy-feely consumer shit. Because that's what it is -- it's fuzzy warm buttons for the end-users to cuddle. Which is all well and good in a home machine, but it does so not belong in the core operating system (like a web browser, for that matter). These peeps are required to roll out large deployments on Windows because it's Policy set by their directors, and they have to deal with the crap that comes out of it and lock it down. I'm talking about public agencies here, government agencies, police forces. And large companies who want to stick terminals on their shop floors.

Back when this stuff came with Konfabulator, that was fine. You had to actually go out and, like, install it. Where it's going ...? Four words:

Worms with Web Services.