Widgets or Gadgets/Sidebar: Which came first?

Klaw117 · 29 Jul 2010

Everyone always says that either Apple copied from Microsoft or Microsoft copied from Apple. When they say what was copied, usually the terms "widgets" or "gadgets" pop up fairly early in the conversation. I want to know the definite answer about who had them first.

My brother, who works for Microsoft told me that Vista had gadgets/the sidebar relatively early in development, but since development was so long, Apple managed to copy widgets and stick them into Leopard. On the other hand, my friend, who is an insane Mac fanboy, refuses to believe this and says that someone he knows in Apple stated that widgets came first and Microsoft copied them in the Vista sidebar.

On a side note, do any of you guys think the Windows 7 Taskbar is copied from the Mac OS X Dock? I, personally, don't think so. My brother and I call it a combination of the Quick Launch and regular taskbars.

logicearth · 29 Jul 2010

Widgets/Gadgets on the desktop existed from third-party software before any OS integrated the functionality. Who came first is nothing but a flame war that achieves nothing. In the end both Mac OS and Windows are mature systems, developed over countless years similarities are going to exist because there is a limit to how unique ideals become. Also it is not impossible for two people to have the same idea and not have copied anyone. The jet engine for example. One guy from England and one from Germany both developed the jet engine unaware of each other's work.