HomePlayNotes 01Where a small screen came from
How widgets came to be.
A widget is a small program you can read at a glance, like a clock, the weather or a timer. This story starts with the Calculator in the 1984 Apple menu. It passes through Active Desktop, the paper clip, Dashboard and the Vista Sidebar. It ends with today's widgets, complications and Live Activities. For forty years, people have tried to do one thing: show you what you need at a glance, without interrupting you.
011984 · Macintosh
One program at a time, and still a calculator on the desk.
In the fall of 1981 the Macintosh team decided to run one application at a time, because memory and screen space were tight. Bud Tribble suggested a second kind of program: small, with one job, opening its own little window beside the main one. He called them desk ornaments. In the fall of 1982 the publications group found “ornament” too fancy and renamed them desk accessories.
Andy Hertzfeld and his colleagues wrote the Calculator, Alarm Clock, Note Pad, Scrapbook, Key Caps, Control Panel and a sliding number Puzzle. Steve Jobs set the Calculator's look himself, with a “Calculator Construction Set” that Chris Espinosa built for him. The Puzzle was first written in Pascal and came to more than 6 KB, so it was nearly cut. Hertzfeld rewrote it in assembly over a weekend, down to about 600 bytes, and it shipped with the first Mac.
All of them lived in the Apple menu. You opened one, used it and closed it. Your document stayed put. Apple later explained in Inside Macintosh that desk accessories were small applications built like device drivers. They gave the Mac a limited kind of multitasking, meaning it could do a few things at once.
Desk Ornaments ↗Calculator Construction Set ↗Puzzle ↗System 1.0 on Infinite Mac ↗Inside Macintosh: Devices · Desk Accessories ↗
A 1984 desktop with four desk accessories
Type a few words into the document, then open the Calculator, Alarm Clock, Note Pad and Puzzle from the menu at the top left. Close them when you are done, and see whether your document is still there.
A redrawn black and white desktop: a menu bar, a document you can type in, and four accessories you can open from the menu. The Calculator calculates, the Alarm Clock shows the time, the Note Pad remembers what you write, and the Puzzle can be played.
The menu is at the top left.
021997 · Internet Explorer 4
A web page laid over the wallpaper.
On 1 October 1997 Microsoft released Internet Explorer 4.0 worldwide. The new Active Desktop could show live web content. Microsoft's own examples were stock tickers and weather maps. Active Channel turned websites into channels that pushed new content to you. A Channel Bar sat on the desktop, and more than 500 sites provided channels at launch.
The idea turned the desktop into a window onto information that never closes. But most people were on dial-up then. Wallpaper that keeps updating takes a phone line and memory. It also keeps moving at the edge of your eye. Later versions of Windows gave that space to other designs.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Now Available · 1997-10-01 ↗
A web page over the wallpaper, and the bill it runs up
Leave Active Desktop on, subscribe to a few channels and watch the bill at the bottom grow. Then turn it off.
A 1997 teal desktop with made-up stock quotes, a weather map and a channel bar. A switch turns Active Desktop on or off and each channel can be subscribed to. A panel below shows data downloaded, seconds the phone line has been busy, and how many things are moving at the edge of your eye.
Active Desktop is on. Subscribe to channels and watch the bill.
031997 · Office 97
“It looks like you're writing a letter.”
On 19 November 1996 Office 97 was released to manufacturing, and it reached stores early the next year. The new Office Assistant sat in a corner of the window and offered advice, interactive Help and tips. Its best-known form was a paper clip named Clippit, which everyone called Clippy.
Real research stood behind it. Microsoft Research's Lumière project used Bayesian models to infer what a user was trying to do and where they were stuck. A Bayesian model is a math model that reasons with probabilities. The project's 1998 paper states that Lumière prototypes were the basis for components of the Office 97 Assistant. But guessing what you want to do does not tell it when to speak.
People remember the line “It looks like you're writing a letter.” You had not asked. It appeared while you typed, in front of the words you were writing. Office XP in 2001 turned the Assistant off by default. Microsoft ran a web campaign about it. A product manager said Office XP was so easy to use that Clippy was no longer necessary. The 2007 Office system marked the Assistant as obsolete.
Microsoft Office 97 Released to Manufacturing · 1996-11-19 ↗The Lumière Project: Bayesian User Modeling for Inferring the Goals and Needs of Software Users ↗Microsoft Promoting Office XP’s Usability with Web Campaign ↗Overview of the Office Assistant (2007 Office system) ↗
“It looks like you're writing a letter.”
In the 1997 mode, start a letter with “Dear” and watch how the assistant arrives. Then switch to “Wait until asked” and write it again.
A simple word-processor window holding a blank letter, with a round ink-blot assistant in the lower right corner. Two modes: in 1997 mode it jumps up over your text when what you type looks like a letter; in Wait until asked mode it only shows a small dot in the corner and speaks when you press Ask. Counters show how many times it interrupted you and how many times it guessed right.
Type on the page. 1997 mode is on.
041997 → 2009 · Microsoft Agent
Any developer could add an animated character.
Microsoft also made animated characters a component any developer could use. Microsoft Agent became a free download on 8 September 1997. Version 2.0, on 12 October 1998, added Peedy the parrot. He joined Genie, Merlin the wizard and Robby the robot as the four characters people saw most.
A web page or an app could call a character with a few lines of script: move here, play an animation, say something. Developers could add text-to-speech and speech recognition. So characters turned up everywhere, often at the wrong moment.
Microsoft's documentation later said: Microsoft Agent is obsolete as of Windows 7 and may be unavailable in later versions.
Microsoft Agent Released to the Web for Free Download · 1997-09-08 ↗Microsoft Agent 2.0 Adds a More Human Touch to Computing · 1998-10-12 ↗Microsoft Agent ↗
Anyone could invite a character on stage
Add a few commands to the script and press Run to watch it perform. Then press “Let three web pages call it” and see one character shared by three pages at once.
A small stage with an original little robot, next to an editable script of commands: Show, MoveTo, Play, Speak and Hide. Run plays the script step by step. “Let three web pages call it” runs three scripts at once on the same character, which gets pulled around while three speech bubbles overlap.
The script has five commands. Press Run.
052003 → 2005 · Konfabulator · Mac OS X Tiger
Widgets got a name, and a layer of their own.
In 2003 Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke released Konfabulator for Mac OS X. It let people make small programs that floated on the desktop. Yahoo! bought it in July 2005, made the $20 program free, and later renamed it Yahoo! Widgets.
On 28 June 2004, at WWDC, Apple previewed Mac OS X Tiger. Its Dashboard introduced “a new class of accessory applications called Widgets”. Tiger went on sale on 29 April 2005 with 14 widgets built on web technologies such as HTML and JavaScript. One keystroke brought them to the top. Another sent them all away.
Rose said at the time that Apple had copied his idea. John Gruber disagreed on Daring Fireball and traced the idea back to the 1984 desk accessories. Both views are still around. No one disputes this: Dashboard gave widgets a layer of their own, easy to summon and easy to dismiss.
Yahoo! Acquires Konfabulator ↗Mac OS X Tiger is a copycat, claims developer ↗Dashboard vs. Konfabulator ↗Apple Previews Mac OS X “Tiger” · 2004-06-28 ↗Apple to Ship Mac OS X Tiger on April 29 · 2005-04-12 ↗
One key and the widgets float up; press it again and they all go away
Type a few words in the document, then press Dashboard (or F12 on the desktop). Flip a widget over to change a setting, then press Esc and check that your document did not move.
A redrawn desktop with a document you can type in. The button at top right, or F12, brings up a dimmed layer with four widgets: a clock, a calculator, weather and a sticky note. Each flips over to a setting, and a plus button adds a dice or a water counter. Esc or the key again sends them away and the document is untouched.
A document sits on the desktop. Press F12 or the button at top right to summon the widgets.
062007 · Windows Vista
A sidebar, and a small screen outside the computer.
Windows Vista reached consumers on 30 January 2007. Microsoft described gadgets as small apps that deliver live online content and data to the desktop. They could sit in the Windows Sidebar, a pane at the side of the Vista desktop. Windows 7, on sale from 22 October 2009, let gadgets sit directly on the desktop.
In the same years Microsoft built Windows SideShow. Gadgets still ran on the PC. Their content went to a second small screen, such as a laptop lid, a keyboard or a remote. With the PC asleep, the small screen could still show what was last synced. The prototype described in MSDN Magazine had a 220 × 176 display that drew about 4 milliwatts. The whole PC drew roughly 75 watts.
SideShow did not catch on. In May 2007 Computerworld noted that consumers could buy only one SideShow laptop, from ASUS. WeatherBug's SideShow version had fewer than 10,000 downloads, against more than 600,000 for the desktop one. The small screen showed a snapshot, and fresh content meant waking the PC. A review complained that mail and calendar stayed current only if the laptop kept waking from standby.
Windows Vista and 2007 Office system launch · 2007-01-23 ↗Microsoft Releases Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 · 2009-07-22 ↗What is Windows SideShow? ↗Writing Gadgets For Windows SideShow Devices ↗Why Vista SideShow is still on the sidelines ↗
A sidebar, and a small screen outside the computer
Remove the sidebar gadgets and add them back. Then use the four buttons on the lid to browse appointment, mail and music. Press "+1 hour" a few times to watch the small screen go stale, then wake the PC to sync and watch the wake-ups and energy.
On the left, a redrawn PC desktop with a glass sidebar holding three gadgets, a clock, a slideshow and headlines, each removable and re-addable. On the right, a laptop with its lid closed and a small screen in the lid with four buttons: up, down, OK and back. They browse the next appointment, the unread mail count and what is playing. While the PC is asleep the small screen shows only what was last synced; waking the PC refreshes it and adds a wake-up and energy use.
The PC is asleep and the small screen shows what was synced at 09:00.
072012 · Security Advisory 2719662
Gadgets were withdrawn because they could do too much.
On 10 July 2012 Microsoft published Security Advisory 2719662. It said vulnerabilities in Windows Sidebar and gadgets could allow remote code execution, meaning someone else could run a program on your PC. A legitimate gadget might have a flaw, or an attacker might trick you into installing a malicious one. Either way, the code ran with your rights. Microsoft's fix was a tool, called a Fix it, that turned off Sidebar and gadgets entirely.
For Windows 8, Microsoft's compatibility notes said gadgets were already obsolete and replaced by live tiles and apps. They said even harmless gadgets could be exploited, so Microsoft chose to remove gadgets from the operating system entirely.
Vulnerabilities in Gadgets Could Allow Remote Code Execution ↗Desktop gadgets removed (Windows 8 compatibility) ↗
What can these gadgets actually do?
Try installing the gadgets in the gallery and read the permission sheet each time. Install all four, then flip the "Turn off Sidebar and gadgets" switch, and finally see how Windows 8 ended it.
A made-up gadget gallery with four gadgets. Installing any of them first shows a permission sheet explaining that a gadget is a full program that runs with your rights: it can read files in your documents, make network requests and run other programs. One of them is a fictional malicious gadget and runs a fully simulated demo after install. Then a switch labelled Turn off Sidebar and gadgets disables them all at once, and a final screen says Windows 8 removed gadgets entirely.
Four gadgets in the gallery, none installed yet.
082009 → 2023 · Android · iOS · macOS
Widgets moved onto phones, and learned not to run all the time.
Phones brought widgets back. In April 2009 Android 1.5 opened the AppWidget framework for home-screen widgets. In 2013 iOS 7 added Today to Notification Center, a view of your day at a glance. The next year iOS 8 let third-party apps put widgets there.
In 2020 iOS 14 put widgets on the Home Screen, where they can stack into a Smart Stack. Developers build them with WidgetKit. Its design learns from the past: a widget is not a program that keeps running. The app hands over a timeline in advance, which is a list of what to show at each time. The system swaps in the next view when its time comes. Apple's documentation says a frequently viewed widget typically gets 40 to 70 refreshes a day, roughly one every 15 to 60 minutes.
In 2023 macOS Sonoma put widgets back on the Mac desktop. Through Continuity, iPhone widgets could appear on the Mac too. Between Dashboard's separate layer and widgets right on the desktop, the way they save power and stay secure changed completely.
Introducing home screen widgets and the AppWidget framework ↗Apple Unveils iOS 7 · 2013-06-10 ↗iOS 8 Available September 17 · 2014-09-09 ↗Apple reimagines the iPhone experience with iOS 14 · 2020-06-22 ↗Meet WidgetKit ↗Keeping a widget up to date ↗macOS Sonoma brings new capabilities · 2023-06-05 ↗
Two kinds of widget, one day
Drag the time below, or press Play a day, and watch how the always-awake gadget on the left differs from the timeline widget on the right. Then press "App asks for an immediate reload" until the system says no.
A side-by-side comparison. On the left, a 2007-style desktop gadget that runs all the time. On the right, a 2020-style weather widget on a phone Home Screen. Below are a slider for the hours of a day, seven timeline entries, a refresh budget meter and a button that asks for an immediate reload. As the time moves, the left side's awake time keeps climbing, while the right side wakes only when the system reloads it.
The time is 0:00. Drag the slider, or press play.
092015 · Apple Watch
A small slot on the watch face, called a complication.
Watchmakers call any extra function on a dial, beyond telling the time, a complication. Examples are the date, the moon phase and a chronograph. Apple Watch, on sale from 24 April 2015, kept the word. Apple described complications as specialized functions on the watch face. That September, watchOS 2 let third-party apps use ClockKit to turn their own data into complications.
A watch makes the glance as short as it can be: raise your wrist, look, lower it, a few seconds at most. One slot holds only the one thing you most need to know right now. In 2022 iOS 16 put widgets on the Lock Screen. Apple said they took inspiration from Apple Watch complications.
Apple Watch Available in Nine Countries on April 24 · 2015-03-09 ↗Apple Introduces watchOS 2 · 2015-09-09 ↗Apple unveils new ways to share and communicate in iOS 16 · 2022-06-06 ↗
Design a watch face that lights for 2 seconds
Tap a corner slot, then pick a complication to put in it; fill as many of the four as you like. Then press Raise wrist: the face lights for 2 seconds and dims, and you are asked one question about it. See how much you kept.
A rounded-square watch face with the time in the middle and four corner slots for complications. Six complications can be chosen below: date, weather, activity, next event, timer and moon phase. Press Raise wrist and the face lights for 2 seconds, dims, and then asks a three-choice question about what it showed.
The face has a date on it. Pick a slot, then a complication.
102022 → 2023 · Live Activities · StandBy
If something has a start and an end, keep it in view.
On 7 September 2022 Apple introduced iPhone 14 Pro and the Dynamic Island at the top of its screen. iOS 16.1 then opened Live Activities to third-party apps. Your delivery's location, the score and the minutes left on a timer stay on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Apple's design guidelines reserve Live Activities for tasks and events with a defined beginning and end. They recommend a limit of eight hours. They say to end a Live Activity as soon as the event ends.
In 2023 iOS 17 added StandBy. An iPhone set on its side while charging becomes a clock, photos and widgets you can read from across the room. It can also show Live Activities full screen. Apple called it a new way to view glanceable information. It was the first time the iPhone itself was treated as a screen that sits on a table.
Apple debuts iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max · 2022-09-07 ↗About iOS 16 Updates ↗Live Activities ↗iOS 17 makes iPhone more personal and intuitive · 2023-06-05 ↗
A one-minute Live Activity
Press "Start a 1 minute timer", watch the black pill at the top grow into a countdown, tap it to open a card, and let it finish and vanish on its own. Then try "Lay it on its side to charge" to see the same activity in StandBy.
The Lock Screen of a generic phone with a black pill at the top, which the copy calls the Dynamic Island. When a timer starts, the pill becomes an icon with a countdown and can expand into a card with pause and cancel. At the end it shows Done and soon disappears. Another button lays the phone on its side to charge, switching to a StandBy view with a big clock and two widgets, or the Live Activity full screen when one is running.
No Live Activity on the Lock Screen.
112026 · Apple HomeView
One screen at home, shared by everyone.
On 13 October 2026 Apple announced HomeView. It is a home display with a 7-inch Liquid Retina screen, in tabletop and wall-mounted versions. It has faces you can switch between, among them Photos, Flow, Snoopy, Home Modular and Home Camera. Each enrolled member of the household gets their own Home Screen with their own apps and widgets. The song that is playing, a running timer and an Intercom message from another room appear as Live Activities.
Every earlier lesson shows up here. The desk accessory was at hand. Dashboard could be summoned and dismissed. SideShow wanted a second screen. WidgetKit has the timeline, the watch has its one right slot, and a Live Activity has a clear start and end.
Meet Apple HomeView ↗Widgets ↗
One screen: change the face, change the person
Swipe or use the arrow keys to try a few faces, then pick someone in the household and watch the widgets change to theirs.
A carousel of HomePlay's eight face renders that you can move left and right, with the face's name underneath. Next to it are three made-up members of a household; pick one and the three widgets below change to that person's own.
Face 1: Island.
122026 · HomePlay
On the Mac, waiting until you ask.
HomePlay is an open-source desk pet for the Mac that looks like HomeView. It has faces, widgets and Live Activities, and a pair of 👀 in the capsule at the top. Most of the time it just watches, quietly. It lights up when you come near. It stays out of your way while you work.
It also has an assistant, ClioTalk. We wrote what we learned from Clippy into its rules. ClioTalk never pops up on its own. It starts listening only when you hold F5 or click it. Its answers are temporary until you choose to keep them. It reads back anything done in your name first and waits for your OK. That covers sending a message, placing a call, adding an event and unlocking a door. When it drafts a message for you, it uses your own words and does not polish them into its voice.
These rules do not promise that it always guesses right. They promise that when it guesses wrong, it will not do something you did not agree to. Forty years ago the Calculator in the Apple menu came out when you needed it and went away when you were done. We want HomePlay to work the same way.
ClioTalk, waiting until you ask
Move your pointer around here and watch the 👀 in the capsule follow you; stop for 4 seconds and they close. Then press Ask, or hold F5 inside this exhibit, and pick something to ask ClioTalk.
A dark screen with a pair of 👀 eyes in the capsule at the top that follow your pointer and close if you stop for a while. Below is the ClioTalk panel, which waits quietly and only starts listening when you press Ask or hold F5. You can pick one of three requests: this afternoon's calendar, a message to Mum, or unlocking the front door. Anything done in your name is read back first and waits for your OK.
ClioTalk is waiting. It will not speak first.
Timeline
The same story in order. The last column is what people learned from each step.
| When | What happened | What it left behind |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 1981 | Bud Tribble proposes desk ornaments, renamed desk accessories in fall 1982 | Small programs can keep the main one company |
| 1984 | The first Mac's Apple menu holds Calculator, Alarm Clock, Note Pad, Puzzle and more | At hand, and gone when you are done |
| 1996-11-19 | Office 97 released to manufacturing, with the Office Assistant | Guessing right is not a reason to speak up |
| 1997-09-08 | Microsoft Agent becomes a free download | Characters become a component anyone can call |
| 1997-10-01 | Internet Explorer 4.0: Active Desktop and Active Channel | Constant updates have a cost |
| 1998-10-12 | Microsoft Agent 2.0 adds Peedy | |
| 2001 | Office XP turns the Assistant off by default | People start to care about interruptions |
| 2003 | Konfabulator released for Mac OS X | Widgets become a kind of software |
| 2004-06-28 | Apple previews Tiger and Dashboard | |
| 2005-04-29 | Tiger ships; Dashboard includes 14 widgets | Easy to summon, easy to dismiss |
| 2005-07 | Yahoo! acquires Konfabulator and makes it free | |
| 2007-01-30 | Windows Vista: Sidebar, gadgets, SideShow | A second screen ships for the first time |
| 2007 | The 2007 Office system marks the Assistant obsolete | |
| 2009-04 | Android 1.5 opens the home-screen widget framework | Widgets move into the pocket |
| 2009-10-22 | Windows 7: gadgets sit on the desktop; Agent obsolete from this version | |
| 2012-07-10 | Security Advisory 2719662 advises turning off Sidebar and gadgets | Running any code carries risk |
| 2012 | Windows 8 removes gadgets from the system | |
| 2013 | iOS 7 adds Today to Notification Center | Your day at a glance |
| 2014 | iOS 8 opens widgets to third-party apps | |
| 2015-04-24 | Apple Watch goes on sale with complications on its faces | The smaller the space, the more the choice matters |
| 2015-09 | watchOS 2 opens complications to third parties (ClockKit) | |
| 2020 | iOS 14 Home Screen widgets and WidgetKit; macOS Big Sur widgets in Notification Center | Not always running: a timeline swaps the view |
| 2022 | iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets; iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island; Live Activities in iOS 16.1 | Things with a start and an end stay in view |
| 2023 | iOS 17 StandBy and interactive widgets; macOS Sonoma desktop widgets | Widgets return to the Mac desktop |
| 2026-10-13 | Apple announces HomeView | One screen shared by a household |
| 2026 | HomePlay: on the Mac, ClioTalk waits until you ask | An assistant waits first, then acts |
What we are not sure of
For these we found only secondary sources, or sources that disagree. The text above avoids them or says who claims them.
- Exactly which desk accessories shipped on the first Mac: Folklore.org tells which ones the team built, but the full list comes only from Wikipedia. We do not count the Chooser for 1984.
- Internet Explorer 4.0's date: Microsoft's press release gives worldwide availability on 1 October 1997, after a launch event the day before. Another source says 22 September.
- Active Desktop being dropped in Windows Vista and replaced by the Sidebar: only Wikipedia (citing PC Magazine, 2006) and forum posts. No Microsoft source.
- What triggered “It looks like you're writing a letter” (an address followed by “Dear”) and how many sketches designer Kevan Atteberry made: only Wikipedia and secondary press.
- The 2001 “Clippy is out of a job” campaign: cited from a contemporaneous internetnews.com report. Microsoft's own press release page would not open.
- Whether a Microsoft Agent 1.5 existed, and whether the Windows XP search dog Rover was an Agent character: no reliable source, so not in the text.
- Konfabulator's exact release date (10 February 2003) and the roles of Perry Clarke and Ed Voas: only Wikipedia. Arlo Rose's part has coverage from the time.
- The details of Windows 7 dropping the Sidebar bar and letting gadgets sit anywhere: only Wikipedia and trade press.
- Windows 8.1 removing SideShow device support (2013): only Wikipedia, so the text gives no year.
- Dashboard being off by default in OS X Yosemite and removed in macOS Catalina: only secondary reports, so not in the text.
- The release date of iOS 16.1 (24 October 2022): Apple's support page has no date; the date comes from news coverage.
- HomeView's faces: Apple's Taiwan newsroom translates them as 「桌面」, unlike Apple Watch's 「錶面」. In English, Apple calls both faces.
Sources
Every year, number and quotation above can be found below. We list primary material first: press releases of the day, official documentation, and the recollections of people who were there.
- Folklore.org · Andy HertzfeldDesk Ornaments ↗Where desk accessories came from, the rename, and why one program at a time.
- Folklore.org · Andy HertzfeldCalculator Construction Set ↗How the Calculator's look was decided.
- Folklore.org · Andy HertzfeldPuzzle ↗The Puzzle rewritten from Pascal to assembly to make the first release.
- Apple developer archiveInside Macintosh: Devices · Desk Accessories ↗Apple's definition of desk accessories and what they were for.
- Infinite Mac · Mihai ParparitaSystem 1.0 on Infinite Mac ↗Run the real System 1.0 in your browser with Infinite Mac. It loads in a new tab only when you click. This site neither embeds nor hosts the system image.
- Microsoft press releaseMicrosoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Now Available · 1997-10-01 ↗Active Desktop, Active Channel, the Channel Bar and the 500-plus sites.
- Microsoft press releaseMicrosoft Office 97 Released to Manufacturing · 1996-11-19 ↗Office 97's release to manufacturing and the Office Assistant.
- Microsoft Research · UAI 1998The Lumière Project: Bayesian User Modeling for Inferring the Goals and Needs of Software Users ↗The Lumière project and its link to the Office 97 Assistant.
- internetnews.com · 2001-04-11Microsoft Promoting Office XP’s Usability with Web Campaign ↗Office XP turning the Assistant off by default, and the campaign.
- Microsoft developer archiveOverview of the Office Assistant (2007 Office system) ↗The Assistant marked obsolete in the 2007 Office system.
- Microsoft press releaseMicrosoft Agent Released to the Web for Free Download · 1997-09-08 ↗Microsoft Agent released as a free download.
- Microsoft press releaseMicrosoft Agent 2.0 Adds a More Human Touch to Computing · 1998-10-12 ↗Agent 2.0, Peedy, web scripting and speech.
- Microsoft LearnMicrosoft Agent ↗Microsoft Agent obsolete as of Windows 7.
- MacTech · 2005-07-25Yahoo! Acquires Konfabulator ↗Yahoo! acquiring Konfabulator and making it free.
- MacTech · 2004-06-29Mac OS X Tiger is a copycat, claims developer ↗Arlo Rose's response to Dashboard.
- Daring Fireball · John Gruber · 2004-06-30Dashboard vs. Konfabulator ↗The other view, tracing Dashboard back to desk accessories.
- Apple press releaseApple Previews Mac OS X “Tiger” · 2004-06-28 ↗WWDC 2004 preview of Dashboard and widgets.
- Apple press releaseApple to Ship Mac OS X Tiger on April 29 · 2005-04-12 ↗Tiger's ship date, 14 widgets and web technologies.
- Microsoft press releaseWindows Vista and 2007 Office system launch · 2007-01-23 ↗Vista's launch and Microsoft's description of gadgets and the Sidebar.
- Microsoft press releaseMicrosoft Releases Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 · 2009-07-22 ↗Windows 7's general availability date.
- Microsoft SideShow team blog · 2005-10-03What is Windows SideShow? ↗The SideShow team's own explanation.
- MSDN Magazine · Jeffrey Richter · 2007-01Writing Gadgets For Windows SideShow Devices ↗How SideShow worked, the prototype screen and its power draw.
- Computerworld · Eric Lai · 2007-05-21Why Vista SideShow is still on the sidelines ↗Why SideShow did not catch on.
- Microsoft Security Advisory 2719662 · 2012-07-10Vulnerabilities in Gadgets Could Allow Remote Code Execution ↗The security advisory on Sidebar and gadgets.
- Microsoft LearnDesktop gadgets removed (Windows 8 compatibility) ↗Why Windows 8 removed gadgets.
- Android Developers Blog · 2009-04-20Introducing home screen widgets and the AppWidget framework ↗Android 1.5's home-screen widget framework.
- Apple press releaseApple Unveils iOS 7 · 2013-06-10 ↗Today in iOS 7's Notification Center.
- Apple press releaseiOS 8 Available September 17 · 2014-09-09 ↗iOS 8 opening widgets and other extensions.
- Apple press releaseApple reimagines the iPhone experience with iOS 14 · 2020-06-22 ↗iOS 14 Home Screen widgets and the Smart Stack.
- Apple Developer · WWDC20Meet WidgetKit ↗WidgetKit introduced.
- Apple Developer documentationKeeping a widget up to date ↗Widget timelines and the daily refresh budget.
- Apple press releasemacOS Sonoma brings new capabilities · 2023-06-05 ↗macOS Sonoma desktop widgets and Continuity.
- Apple press releaseApple Watch Available in Nine Countries on April 24 · 2015-03-09 ↗Apple Watch's on-sale date and the definition of complications.
- Apple press releaseApple Introduces watchOS 2 · 2015-09-09 ↗watchOS 2 and ClockKit.
- Apple press releaseApple unveils new ways to share and communicate in iOS 16 · 2022-06-06 ↗Lock Screen widgets inspired by complications.
- Apple press releaseApple debuts iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max · 2022-09-07 ↗iPhone 14 Pro and the Dynamic Island.
- Apple SupportAbout iOS 16 Updates ↗iOS 16.1 opening Live Activities to third-party apps.
- Apple Human Interface GuidelinesLive Activities ↗Live Activities guidelines: a defined beginning and end, a time limit.
- Apple press releaseiOS 17 makes iPhone more personal and intuitive · 2023-06-05 ↗StandBy.
- Apple Human Interface GuidelinesWidgets ↗Widget guidelines, and HomeView's personal Home Screens.
- Apple Newsroom · 2026-10-13Meet Apple HomeView ↗HomeView's announcement, display, faces and Live Activities.
- HomePlay sourcesurfine / HomePlay ↗HomePlay and ClioTalk source code, where the rules live.
HomePlay is an independent open-source project, not affiliated with Apple, Microsoft, Google or Yahoo. Product and character names belong to their owners and are used for reference only. Macintosh, Apple Watch, HomeView and Dynamic Island are trademarks of Apple Inc.; Windows, Office and Clippit are trademarks of Microsoft. The exhibits are illustrations, not the original products. Checked on 25 October 2026. If you spot a mistake, please tell us on GitHub.