16 replies to this topic

[Tataarujin]

Looks like Microsoft like grim death trying to abandon its older operating systems. These tactics won't lead to anything good, they never lead. But looks like I moved away from the topic.

Today I went to windows gadget gallery in good mood and hoped to get some gadget I was looking for. But when I clicked to link and got to the place which was previously gadget gallery, I was totally astonished and got stack overflow inside my head.

It shown me this:


You can now imagine the desperation within me. Result of 6 years of development flies straight to hell. To the oblivion. To the darkness.

I'll never deal with future M$ products again until Ballmer won't step out as CEO. Enough.

[Liskiller]

Whoa, when I wrote about the desktop gadget support in Windows 8 last week, I never expected that they would close down the live gallery completely. Looks like they don't care about Windows 7 users who don't want to upgrade!

[P.McGinley]

The gadgets on Live Gallery were crap. I switched to Rainmeter an year ago!

[Tataarujin]

Rainmeter is 3rd party and require a lot of editing. Windows Gadgets is... well, _was_ a solid ready solution, gadgets could be written even with XAML and WPF and was like standalone applications.

Edited by Tataarujin, 11 July 2012 - 06:32 PM.

[SurB86]

Goodbye customization!

[Preath]

Some other news popped up regarding Windows 7 Gadgets:

I read this on a Swedish site which i sent through Google Translate:

Desktop Gadgets, vulnerability

Malicious code can take advantage of Desktop Gadgets

In a new message from Microsoft encourages all users of Windows 7 to download a utility that turns off the Desktop Gadgets. According to the company's risk that malicious code can run without user knowledge, which can give criminals access to files on your hard disk in the background.
Microsoft did not specify what the threat consists of, nor if there is a close above security patch that is going on. According to the website ComputerWorld, security researchers at the conference, Black Hat is a reason, these should be shown in the "interesting attack possibilities" with the right gadgets.

Those who want to turn off the Desktop Gadgets can do it via Group Policy in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. All others must unfortunately run this tool. The risk of malicious code is vanishingly small, at least for this particular vulnerability. However it is always good to be safe than sorry, but few'll probably turn off the feature anyway.

Edited by Preath, 11 July 2012 - 08:30 PM.

[USG Ishimura]

In a security advisory, Microsoft has provided an automated fix to disable the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets in in Windows Vista and Windows 7. This temporary fix will "help block known attack vectors before a security update is available."

It's a possibility that Microsoft will releases a security update in future that will disable the desktop gadgets permanently.

[FalseAgent]

not many people liked desktop gadgets anyway.

[xwidget]

XWidget maybe is another choice

Edited by xwidget, 14 July 2012 - 02:57 PM.

[Mayankoo]

Well-Timed Advertisement??

[Frylock86]

I'll never deal with future M$ products again until Ballmer won't step out as CEO. Enough.

May I ask what you are crying over? The gadgets were crap, and I don't really need a desktop full of network and system meters.

[hb860]

Frylock86 is right. Gadgets are crap.

[Tataarujin]

Some gadgets are not. Like weather and rss feeds gadgets. Also, very nifty gadgets are from TuneUp, DaemonTools and Avast.

[FalseAgent]

Some gadgets are not. Like weather and rss feeds gadgets. Also, very nifty gadgets are from TuneUp, DaemonTools and Avast.

I don't understand this, programs like Avast already have their presence through the system tray, so why would it need another presence on the desktop?