Were widgets overhyped?

I can't imagine my desktop without them, I use some of my widgets even with Microsoft Vista, because I didn't find anything better to use with Vista sidebar!

There are hundreds of them in Microsoft Library, but they are not that good as the widgets of DesktopX library.

I use the weather widget all the time, it's set to start on boot-up. I like widgets because I don't need to have Desktop X running to use them.

Gotta have 'em! Maybe they have been over hyped but I value the useful ones. When I submit a screen shot I like it to be as I really use it so my shots usually aren't filled up with a lot of widgets. The one I did for Synthek used a lot of different elements but even then I thought it was very practical. Make it cool but useful is what I think.

Well, my answer should be clear. I just need my systeminfos on the xp desk, on my vista notebook I prefer using the sidebar for that. Regarding hype or no hype : DesktopX still is the most underestimated SD app and there are still endless possibilities yet to explore. But You can't rely on users only on this matter, wether in doing great widgets for You nor doing all the tutorials. That model seems pretty going nowhere yet. Also when was the last update regarding known bugs or more flexible plugins ? Where is the sidebar-app export for Vista ? Again, no bad blood here, just food for thoughts.

A good read is also RomanDA's rant here, in case You missed it. Click

I use/make/share them and i can't imagine my PC without them

My sentiments mirrored. If I need one, I'll run it, but its very rare. They are certainly , to me at least, something I can live without. If i need to know the time , its in my tray, If i need to know the weather, I look outside, ive been on a PC so long I don't feel I need a CPU or Ram meter unless I need to get really specific with stats.. I just know when something is using Ram or CPU, it like a sense. No search widget needed..If I want to search, I open my browser, which defaults to google (your browser has to open anyway to look at results)

As for more spefic widgets, Ive seen some that can be very handy on a daily basis but nothing I consider inportant enough to run at startup on my PC.

Vad_M's Statchecker is a handy one that comes to mind.

Im a bit of a fanatic about running processes even on a pretty modern PC so I only use..what i use, combine that with the screen real estate they occupy, I would have to say yes, for me, overhyped.

On the other side, they provide other people plenty of enjoyable hours skinning and coding which helps me as it helps keep the skinning community thriving and im sure that many many folks find uses for them in their daily grind....and..they look GREAT in screenshots.   

My sentiments also

I'm of the opinion that a widget has massive potential, and is a powerful tool, but is a niche product. They're cool but most people can live without them. I can't see that they'll ever be the next iPod. I usually only run 2 at a time. I prefer widgets to objects because I don't have to have DX running. I don't know about overhype- I had never even heard of a widget before I stumbled upon DX, so it wasn't like a widget was this thing that I kept hearing was going to be the next big step in technology. The problem is 1.) For the end-user they are largely seen as an unessesary luxury-- even for the most practical uses such as clock and weather-- like vStyler said, you've got time in your systray and weather right outside your window. 2.) For the casual developer it's not easy to make anything beyond the proverbial clock or weather, because of the lack of learning resources and the amount of serious coding it takes to make the so-called "super-widgets". For the most part, I'd say unless you are already into skinning or OS Customization you'll probably live the rest of your computer technology days never knowing about, using, or making a widget. So as opposed to the notion that widgets aren't all that they're trumped up to be, I'd say they're even more than that but they have not yet reached their potential (and I'm not sure they ever will, but we'll see).

There are some that I can't imagine not running

1. Littleboys Volume Changer (and plugin) - best use of scroll wheel ever.
2. My customized media player (based of silica MP3)
3. Pandora's box by RomanDA
4. Stealth Wireless by Exudus Crow
5. Roman's HC Pro is always running too (free version)
   

There are some that I use often:

1. Will Rose's Animated Weather Satellite and Radar v2.1a
2. Carls new sSI 0.98 Basic skinnable system meters

I think that widgets can be extarordinarily useful and fill many small gaps in people's lives.  I think the DX coders are starting become more cohesive and data is being shared more and more.  That's good for everyone

Well....Tried them...Their ok I suppose, definitely should be available to those that really like them..

I personlly dont like a "cluttered" desktop, or do I like things running that I am not using "at the moment"

Sysmetric is another example, great skins, cool concept, Just do not need it running *All the time..

"Gotta haves" for me really boils down to the basics...Windowblinds and CursorXP..Those run at boot-up..all other "enhancements" are turned off and really only brought up on occassion to show off what is made possible through Stardock to my friends and family..Get allot of "Ooooo's & Ahhhhhh's" LoL

I run 4 fulltime.CPUand RAM meters I consider essential,clock and supercalendar are for fun.  

Vadim's Statchecker is shaping up nicely.  

Primarily, it's objects for me.

I don't think widgets were over hyped but, I do think that many people just don't get it. Most people don't know about the underlying tools available to them that are standard parts of the OS.

I'm still baffled by the number of people who sit in front of their computer while they run anti-virus/spyware/adware scans.

I don't use widgets anymore as a separate applications because I have done the full-fledged desktop where integrated system info, weather, todo, events list, clock, calendar etc... There are only three things that I use (but as a gadgets) - Media Player, Launch Bar and Skin Shecker. So I use DesktopX only for development. (The best software I have found for this by the way) But this is my way.

However I'm sure that a lot of people who want to customize their Windows but has no time (or possibilities) to create own desktops must use the widgets. As a separate applications or as a parts of DX Themes.

I realized that I never answered the question.

I think the press has gone through periods where they have hyped the gadget/widget/sidebar thing but it's always been mostly a failure because there really isn't a market for "stuff" on your desktop.  Power users may like and want and even build their own but Joe Average doesn't have a clue.

Most people use the software they need at work to do their job. At home they check email and maybe the anual Christmas letter.

No one is marketing widgets or gadgets, not even Stardock.  Even the name is dismissive.

Some of the stuff coming from the top DX coders are real applications.  You could slap a skin on them and sell them to company X in a heartbeat.  The real trick (again) is letting the market know that you have filled a gap for them.

Imagine the collegiate MyColors with Roman's Holiday Calendar skinned and loaded with all the football games for the year?  But then you're not selling a widget/gadget/object, you are selling a calendar app built on DX technology. Big difference.

I'd like to see MORE hype for mini-apps built on DX! 

most of the time i need the Wi-Fi and Battery widget running, thats about it because SysMetrix takes care of my other info needs.

I would rather use DesktopX for all my needs instead of having a bunch of mini apps all over the place.

I still think widgets overran all those mini-apps we had in the past to a great extend. Remember EZPop and the myriad of mail-checking progs that existed ? Even to do lists and the like, no need to have 5 apps for different purposes anymore. There were plenty of sysinfo-apps out there, the only one still succeeding (although it is not developed further for some time now) is Sysmetrix, which a used for a long time and I even made suggestions to Xymantix for development. Then RomanDA came along with a great piece of script that could detect Your drives automatically wheras You were and still are pretty limited with Sysmstrix and drives (heck I made 5 different skins of one thing those times to just be sure the user could monitor up to 5 drives...) Nowadays I just need 1 gadget that even uses less ressources than those apps. The only other one I am running is Rainlendar, mainly because the old 1.x version nicely hooks into Outlook.

Got that right. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but Yahoo released version 4 of Yahoo Widgets the other day. I think all the advertisement done was a submission to Digg that didn't reach the front page. The only advertising I've seen Yahoo do with their widgets is a little ad on the homepage for two weekends last year.

I think the problem with widgets is that it's hard to think of new uses, and even if you do, people might have no use for it. I use pretty basic widgets of weather, system stats, calendar, and mail checker. I don't have any use for any other kind of widget, gadget or object. Basic information is all I need, and that in itself limits how far these things can be taken. It basically comes down to which ones look the best.

I never use widgets. None of them ever match my skins and I haven't a clue how to make one.

Ditto   

I use 3 Konfabulator widgets, weather, clock and system info.  I also have 1/2 dozen games that I call up and use.  But for the most part, my desktop is clean.  No icons, just the 3 widgets and OD+.

A add:

Don't Worry about DX (for themes/widgets/gadgets/or objects) i can said that here in france Informatics Newspapers are ok to said that konfu is more simple but that DX (and others SD softs) are simply more powerful, more difficult to make but with more possibilities ( An idea of this possibilities ).

for answer at your last question an example i have made a simple analog clock in widget and in object result:

Vista DX analog clock (object)
2185 dl overall
Vista DX analog clock (.exe)
1543 dl overall

I use gadgets.
Sidebar gadgets: conversion, calender, notes, weather
DexktopX: Underground Travelnews and some of my other projects.

My sentiments pretty much mirror the comments made by vStyler in #6.
If I need the temp outside I can quickly pull up weather.com or any one of a million sites, or simply look at the thermometer. If I want to see the weather forecast I pull it up, look at it and I'm done with it. There is no practical reason to keep a weather widget running all the time. If the weather is changing that quickly I should think it time to seek shelter.
Time and calendar... Yep, it's right there on my systray. I check my email in outlook and my calendar events are in outlook as well.
Widget media players are nice, but honestly, If I am listening to music, my stereo does a much better job and sounds better than my PC. If I need to listen to an mp3 or cd on my PC, well... WMP is there, it does ALL I need it to do.

Yes, RomanDA's thread says quite a bit on this. (has stardock even acknowledged the thread yet? The last I looked it was being ignored like the plague, from SD)

I think the only thing that is going to make Widgets a success is breaking away from the normal and routine type of objects that are being created, and find a new whiz-bang popularity item. The only ones that I have seen that are even approaching this realm are Vad and Roman. The average skinner just does not posses the coding skills. These guys do possess both.
If Stardock is worried about the future of DX in a widget capacity I would think the logical thing to do would be to follow through on one of your "How Stardock let down the community" items. Get some professional, quality documentation out there for the products. Coding is something that is too complex for the average power user even unless proper, well structured documentation is provided. Tutorials, vids, the whole works.

PLEASE, let's not have any Weather Widget authors get in a snit about this either. Their work is fine and they make some beautiful pieces.

Carry on...

For me, the novelty of widgets, gadgets, objects wore off some time ago. I really don't have any use for them. I do like to use windowblinds, iconpackager, curserxp along with some great wallpapers.

I'm with vstyler and Phoon, gadgets/widgets just reproduce information I already have somewhere else, albeit with much more style.
The only gadgets I would find useful are rss readers, but no one seems to have produced one that works consistently.
I'm looking into what it takes to code a reader. Maybe someone with skinning skills can make it pretty if I get it figured out.