Widgets - The Old And the New

On March 22nd, Yahoo! released version 4.0 of its widget software. Millions will download the upgrade. The main draw of 4.0 is its "Vista-like functionality,” whatever that means. Regardless of whether you like glitz or not, if you’re a fan of Yahoo! Widgets, the new version is good to have. Who wouldn’t want 40% more efficient use of your computer’s memory?

I’ve been thinking, though.

Is it just me or has the widget gotten old? It’s only been around for a few years in any big way. Could its dusk be approaching only this short a while after its dawning?

I’ll be honest. I don’t fiddle with widgets much. I have a set group that shows up (weather forecast, calendar, calculator, yellow pages, translation engine, and dictionary/thesaurus, etc) every time I hit my ‘F12’ key. Hit it again, and they’re gone. They’re all very bubbly and pleasing to the eye, but I don’t have them there to marvel over. I have them loaded and arranged for convenience.

I imagine many of you deal with your collection in much the same way, whether you’re working with what Mac OS 10.4 avails to its users; some nifty accessories that come with Linux, Beryl, and all that jazz; Windows Vista’s gadgets; or the vast group of knickknacks that make up Yahoo! Widgets – formerly known as Konfabulator, which was allegedly the first of the new widget platforms (to be fair to all computer programmers who geeked out for fun and play prior to Web 2.0, the “widget” has technically been around for at least two decades) to grace our desktops – we all use them in one form or another, for one purpose or another. A number of you even get your widget fixes at your favorite Flash and/or AJAX start pages.

So it’s not like the world of widgets is showing a downward trend. The line on the graph is clearly rising.

Why do I feel like the widget has gotten past its prime, then? The answer is this very article - and those like it.

There’s way too much written about widgets! How many blog posts have put a focus on the widget? Stack half of them (the posts), one on top of another, weigh ‘em, and the needle jumps to 'great excess'. Pile it all on, and the indicator breaks, along with the scale and the floor bearing the weight of it all. And they continue to flourish. Type widget into Technorati and you’ll find tons of ‘em. Here you are reading one of them.

That’s why I’ve come to the conclusion that there aren’t too many widgets. No sir (or ma’am). In fact, the selections are quite nice. A few more would be great.

There’s just too much talk about widgets. So I’ll refrain from pushing on any further. All I’ve left to do is apologize for adding to the madness. I’m sorry.

Note: Remember to check out Yahoo! Widgets version 4.0.