SideBar for Windows XP

Can someone tell me if Windows SideBar(part of Vista) is going to
released for XP, if yes when?

I doubt it.  There is a hacked version of the Vista Sidebar just MSN or Google it.  I also know someone is planning a sidebar that will allow you to utilize gadgets as well.

arunpv wrote:

Can someone tell me if Windows SideBar(part of Vista) is going to
released for XP, if yes when?

rjdohnert wrote:

I doubt it.  There is a hacked version of the Vista Sidebar just MSN or Google it.  I also know someone is planning a sidebar that will allow you to utilize gadgets as well.

arunpv wrote: Can someone tell me if Windows SideBar(part of Vista) is going to released for XP, if yes when?

Here you go, it actually works quite well.  As generic sidebars go I like the DesktopSidebar that you had linked to.

rjdohnert wrote:

Here you go, it actually works quite well.  As generic sidebars go I like the DesktopSidebar that you had linked to.

It would, IMO make sense and be feasible for Microsoft to deliver it for XP.  They want upgrades to Vista and I doubt the entire arsenal would make it back to Windows XP.

arunpv wrote:

rjdohnert wrote: Here you go, it actually works quite well.  As generic sidebars go I like the DesktopSidebar that you had linked to.

Thats pretty good. Here you go same question i ask. if they can hack Sidebar why not Microsoft release the damn thing for XP.

rjdohnert wrote:

Here you go, it actually works quite well.  As generic sidebars go I like the DesktopSidebar that you had linked to.

arunpv wrote:

rjdohnert wrote: Here you go, it actually works quite well.  As generic sidebars go I like the DesktopSidebar that you had linked to.

I installed it and its sweet.... who cares if they release it for XP or not. I am fine i will stick to this.

Thanks

Desktop Sidebar is pretty good - I've been using it for over a year - waiting for Microsoft to get it's own sidebar together.

I don't know much about where Desktop SideBar came from... but they jumped the gun and brought out a tool very much like what Windows Sidebar was originally intended to be. Including an extensive list of plug-ins.

It's a free download... and there is a stable version and unstable beta version (which blows up on me daily). The product has been pretty much dead for the past several months in terms of new versions or functions... obviously they are waiting to see what Microsoft is up to since they took MS's initiative and jumped on it more quickly.

I monitor over 80 RSS feeds with Sidebar - that is it's main purpose in life for me. It does a good job of this, and of organizing them all. I haven't see an example yet of Windows Sidebar handling that many - and it seems to require a whole lot more real estate space just to do a few. It does offer a bunch of other functions, including skins. Lots there for people to look thru.

I also do some performance monitoring of my system, and I get a weather report. Don't have much need for tons more... and I certainly don't care about a bunch of giant MS gadgets cluttering up my desktop. There is the question or ergonomics and usability to consider. Email and tasks stay in Outlook (2007) and work best for me there.

jwfisher wrote:

Desktop Sidebar is pretty good - I've been using it for over a year - waiting for Microsoft to get it's own sidebar together.

I don't know much about where Desktop SideBar came from... but they jumped the gun and brought out a tool very much like what Windows Sidebar was originally intended to be. Including an extensive list of plug-ins.

It's a free download... and there is a stable version and unstable beta version (which blows up on me daily). The product has been pretty much dead for the past several months in terms of new versions or functions... obviously they are waiting to see what Microsoft is up to since they took MS's initiative and jumped on it more quickly.

I monitor over 80 RSS feeds with Sidebar - that is it's main purpose in life for me. It does a good job of this, and of organizing them all. I haven't see an example yet of Windows Sidebar handling that many - and it seems to require a whole lot more real estate space just to do a few. It does offer a bunch of other functions, including skins. Lots there for people to look thru.

I also do some performance monitoring of my system, and I get a weather report. Don't have much need for tons more... and I certainly don't care about a bunch of giant MS gadgets cluttering up my desktop. There is the question or ergonomics and usability to consider. Email and tasks stay in Outlook (2007) and work best for me there.

I thought it was well known that the Sidebar will be available on XP too. Check Sean Alexander's blog for more info (october 2005 or something like that).

PaoloM wrote:

I thought it was well known that the Sidebar will be available on XP too. Check Sean Alexander's blog for more info (october 2005 or something like that).

PaoloM wrote:

I thought it was well known that the Sidebar will be available on XP too. Check Sean Alexander's blog for more info (october 2005 or something like that).

arunpv wrote:

Well, they say one today and change things tommorrow. Things change and we can't blame the developers or manager but people above them who makes the decision.

I would guess that the Vista Sidebar uses the Glass APIs to draw its smoked glass background, so they'd need to replicate that using XP APIs.

I like the idea of a Sidebar. And I like the Vista Sidebar visually (thoug hthe horizontal positioning of the default widgets is a bit ragged). But there are a number of things I don't much like about the current incarnation in practice:

I don't like that it forces all of your gadgets to autoarrange from the top down. I'd like to put my trash gadget at the bottom separate from the rest. Maybe someone will implement a "spacer" gadget for that.

Dragging gadgets is way too sensitive. As soon as the top edge of a gadget overlaps another gadget, they swap positions. This makes it much easier to accidentally move a gadget up the sidebar by mistake. I think it would be better if they didn't move till the middle of the gadget overlaps the neighboring gadget. Also, a "Lock Gadgets" option would be nice.

The widgets gallery dialog is a GUG (Gratuitous use of Glass). I get the feeling we're going to see alot of this. Mac users sick of overuse of brushed metal will nod knowingly.

There's probably some others ,and there are bugs that will hopefully get fixed (z-order of tray icon popups like the volume slider being one that I've reported).

Paolo's right. We even got a preview of an early Sidebar build running on XP SP2 during one of the PDC05 sessions last year. See the last picture in this post: http://netryder.osnn.net/pdc05/2005/09/windows-sidebar-and-gadgets.php

NetRyder wrote:

Paolo's right. We even got a preview of an early Sidebar build running on XP SP2 during one of the PDC05 sessions last year. See the last picture in this post: http://netryder.osnn.net/pdc05/2005/09/windows-sidebar-and-gadgets.php

Stay away from SmartBar XP, its a resource hogger.  I used it back in the day.