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Google Gadgets Join Dashboard Widgets As KDE Plasmoids

Posted by timothy on from the kde-where-everything-is-possible dept.

Balinares writes "As another sign of Google's growing interest in the Linux desktop, according to a Google developer, the Linux implementation of Google Gadgets will be able to run natively as KDE Plasmoids. After Mac OS X Dashboard widgets, this is the second major widget library to be supported in KDE Plasma."

3 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Usefulness? by mccalli · · Score: 2, Informative

    Do others find widgets useful? What are they?

    Yep - I use the converter several times a day, I use the Tube travel status (London Underground) map to check things before leaving and I use four instances of the clock widget to track time in the various zones I need to interact with.

    Cheers,
    Ian

  2. Re:Usefulness? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 3, Informative

    Do others find widgets useful? What are they?

    Now that Widgets are fast to appear and disappear (after the first load) and no longer suck (resources constantly) I find myself using a number of them. Many are default widgets even:

    • Business - yellowpages, being able to get the closest indian food delivery and make the number giant on my screen is really convenient. It's even faster than opening a new tab and using the Web.
    • People - whitepages, nice and quick. I used this to find someone's phone number the other day when I found their wallet.
    • Simpletimer - just to set a timer and get notified. This is great for lunch in 20 minutes type things.
    • Unit Converter - quick way to convert units, nice around the house or when I'm somewhere without internet access.
    • Weather - a nice, quick weather report and forecast including radar images.

    Sure I could run separate applications for all these, but they are lightweight and pulling them all up with a key and dismissing them just as quickly is pretty convenient. I basically think of Widgets as a single, customizable, catch-all application that keeps my dock less cluttered.

  3. Re:Usefulness? by lbbros · · Score: 3, Informative

    'd certainly make use of it. I haven't seen Plasma, but if they're copying Dashboard in any way I'll probably be avoid that too, if I ever bother with KDE 4.

    For clarity's sake, notice that the goal of Plasma is far more ambitious than Dashboard. Plasmoids/Applets (native Plasma widgets) are meant to interact with the rest of the desktop. They can be used to stay pretty there, but also to actually carry out tasks (the part that displays folders on the desktop is an applet itself. Applets can be grouped in containers (containments; even the panel/taskbar is one of them), and some of these containers can be used to separate the desktop into different "activities" that can be accessed by zooming out of a containment and in in another.

    Hope this puts things into perspective.

    Disclaimer: I'm neither a KDE nor a Plasma developer, just one of the contributors of the FAQ.

    --
    A CC-licensed illustrated horror novel