Google Gets into the Widgets Business as Well - Softpedia

Google Gets into the Widgets Business as Well - Softpedia: "Widgets are little pieces of software, which Apple introduced as easy-to-load and use solutions which provide information from different online sources without having to load a browser application and search on different sites for updated information regarding weather, stock exchange quotations, news, movie times and quotes of the day. With just one click, all these are available, no wait, no fuss, and to make them go away, you just click once again and they're all gone.

Even before Apple, Konfabulator offered a similar technology, which was gaining in popularity at such a rapid pace that Yahoo gained interest in it as well and it made an offer to acquire Pixoria, which offered the Konfabulator widgets service. Since the acquisition, Yahoo has distributed more than 1.5 million copies of the Konfabulator platform, and users have downloaded more than 10 million widgets, according to the company. "