Windows SideShow

Last updated
Windows SideShow
Developer(s) Microsoft
Initial releaseJanuary 30, 2007;17 years ago (2007-01-30)
Operating system Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Type Auxiliary display platform
Website(From the archive) web.archive.org/web/20070203010745/http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/sideshow.mspx

Windows SideShow (codenamed Auxiliary Display) was a feature by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista to supply information such as e-mail, instant messages, and RSS feeds from a personal computer to a local or remote peripheral device or display. SideShow was intended to enhance the Windows experience by enabling new mobility scenarios for the Windows platform and by providing power saving benefits as part of Microsoft's broader efforts regarding a mobile initiative.

Contents

SideShow was unveiled in 2003 as a feature of Windows Vista ("Longhorn") to provide peripheral awareness of information. Preliminary documentation from Microsoft focused on using it to provide online information in an internal display of a mobile device such as a laptop while supporting desktop computer scenarios; information could also be cached for later use when offline or when in sleep mode. Microsoft planned to include a Control Panel applet and configurable battery, calendar, email, wireless network, and Windows Media Player modules for SideShow.

SideShow was included with the release of Windows Vista in 2006, which included modules for Windows Mail and Windows Media Player, and would ultimately encompass other aspects of the Windows platform and Microsoft ecosystem. Microsoft Office supported SideShow with the release of Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft introduced SideShow support for Windows CE, Windows Mobile 5.0, and Windows Mobile 6.0 in 2008 and released modules for applications such as Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft PowerPoint, Windows Media Center, and Windows Sidebar. SideShow was supported with the release of Windows 7 in 2009. With the release of Windows 8.1 in 2013, SideShow was discontinued.

History

Windows Vista

Auxiliary displays were listed by Microsoft among other forms of information indicators for personal computers during the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference of 2003. [1] An auxiliary display feature was later presented by Microsoft during the WinHEC 2004 where it was scheduled to be included in Windows Vista, then known by its codename, "Longhorn." [2] It was intended for tablet PCs and other mobile devices to provide users with up-to-date information at a glance and to increase the value of the Windows operating system in new mobile scenarios. [3] Auxiliary display support was included among other mobile features scheduled for the operating system, including Windows Mobility Center, speech recognition, and Windows HotStart, and was listed as part of Microsoft's mobile PC strategy. [4] [5] A prototype auxiliary display device was demonstrated by Intel at the Intel Developer Forum conference in fall of 2004. [6]

In February 2005, Microsoft announced that the first beta version of Windows Vista, then codenamed "Longhorn," would include support for the feature; a preliminary software development kit would also be released concurrently with the operating system. [6] At WinHEC 2005, Microsoft released details about the SideShow development platform and discussed new scenarios enabled by the technology. [7] Prototypes were also produced by several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and displayed at the conference. [8] [9] Microsoft would release details a year later at WinHEC 2006 where additional hardware was also displayed. [10]

Windows Vista was released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006 and includes two SideShow gadgets, one for Windows Mail and one for Windows Media Player. [11] [12] Microsoft Office 2007, released to manufacturing on the same day as Windows Vista, included an Outlook 2007 calendar gadget for SideShow. [12]

Windows 7

With Windows 7 Microsoft introduced multiple user support for gadgets, improved the reliability and resiliency of SideShow APIs for gadgets on multiple devices, improved asynchronous processing throughput, and updated the SideShow control panel experience with changes such as a more prominent link to settings and the introduction of tooltip descriptions for gadgets. [13]

Overview

A mail opened on Windows Sideshow, using the Windows Mail gadget in Windows Vista. Windows Sideshow - Windows Mail screenshot.png
A mail opened on Windows Sideshow, using the Windows Mail gadget in Windows Vista.

Windows SideShow displays can be embedded as part of a device itself or as a separate component. Examples include an electronic visual display integrated as part of a keyboard, or digital photo frames that can receive information wirelessly; wireless devices are connected to a personal computer through wireless network technologies, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; manufacturers may also produce detachable displays. [3] [7] Sideshow devices display various types of information, such as contacts, calendar appointments, e-mail, maps, RSS feeds, and can serve as indicators for system information such as battery life and wireless network strength. [3] [7] Microsoft has published documentation which suggests additional uses for SideShow devices, such as the ability to transmit information and notifications received from a computer across televisions and set-top boxes, [14] and the ability to serve as a second screen for PC games and their content (e.g., character statistics or maps) and to enable new multitasking scenarios during gameplay. [15]

SideShow features integration with the Windows desktop gadget feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7, which enables a single gadget to operate simultaneously on a user's desktop while supplying data across devices. [16]

SideShow uses the Windows Portable Devices infrastructure to communicate with devices; [7] when viewed as a portable device in File Explorer, users can also adjust and interact with the files included as part of auxiliary displays. [17] Auxiliary displays appear in Device Manager and integrate with Windows Vista's Function Discovery technology. [7]

Development platform

A gadget developed for SideShow is written by programming for the Windows SideShow Platform application programming interface—a native code COM-based API introduced in Windows Vista. [18] A managed API for .NET Framework developers was also released by Microsoft, and includes development templates for Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. To aid in the development of gadgets, Microsoft released a SideShow simulator that emulates the functionality of a SideShow-compatible device, thereby allowing developers to test the appearance and functionality of gadgets without requiring physical hardware. [19] [20]

Devices for Windows SideShow have different hardware traits than devices such as mobile phones or PDAs. The former have their own processor; they need not rely solely on a connection to a computer for processing tasks. There are online and offline abilities that allow the device to run larger components on the connected computer. The following list contains typical device display types and technologies.

Auxiliary display types
Device typeDescription
Enhanced displayRenders full color content including text and images, e.g. a device running Microsoft's rendering code for the .NET Micro Framework.
Single line displayCan show one or two lines of text, but supports no images.
Attached display, lid topLocated on the body of a PC (notebook, desktop, or server), e.g. on the top of a laptop's lid, or a media center's front panel.
Remote displayLocated off of the PC, and talks to the PC through a wired or wireless network protocol.

Hardware-specific, native applications that provide rich-media experiences like audio and video playback that can be accessed through the SideShow user interface require the SDK from the specific platform vendor. For example, Nvidia provides the Preface platform that includes abilities like MP3, AAC, MPEG-4 encode-decode and other digital media formats. [21]

Market acceptance

Few OEMs accepted SideShow.

In 2007, Asus announced the W5Fe, a laptop with a full-color, 2.8-inch SideShow display on the front cover. [22]

In 2006, after being featured at WinHEC, the 7-inch and 10-inch "Momento" digital photo frames were released by their developer, A Living Picture, [23] and provided Sideshow functionality over WiFi. They were subsequently marketed by i-mate along with its Momento Live picture service, [24] before being shut down in 2009. [25]

In October 2007, Dell released the XPS 420, [26] which included a Sideshow device on the top front of the machine. [27] It was not widely promoted, found little use [28] and was quietly dropped when the XPS 430 came out a year later. [29]

Intoware (formerly Ikanos Consulting) provided AccuWeather, Facebook, Flickr, iTunes, Twitter, and Windows Live Messenger.

On February 1, 2010, Ikanos Consulting announced Threemote, a suite of Windows SideShow-compatible products for embedded platforms including Windows Mobile, Google Android, and Kopin Golden-i. [30] Threemote appears unsupported and had been unavailable from the Android Market for some time as of September 2011, nor was it available for Windows Mobile. In a blog posting in April 2010, the technical director of Ikanos consulting said that Sideshow was not dead and Threemote was "bubbling along". [31]

On February 7, 2012, Chris James released "MS Sideshow Device", [32] an implementation of a Windows Sideshow device for Android.

Microsoft discontinued the Sideshow gallery. A duplication of the sideshow gallery content is available at Windows Sidebar Gadget Gallery. [33]

With the introduction of Windows 8.1, Microsoft discontinued the technology and removed support for SideShow devices from the operating system. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Next-Generation Secure Computing Base</span> Software architecture by Microsoft

The Next-Generation Secure Computing Base is a software architecture designed by Microsoft which claimed to provide users of the Windows operating system with better privacy, security, and system integrity. NGSCB was the result of years of research and development within Microsoft to create a secure computing solution that equaled the security of closed platforms such as set-top boxes while simultaneously preserving the backward compatibility, flexibility, and openness of the Windows operating system. Microsoft's primary stated objective with NGSCB was to "protect software from software."

The Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) is a series of technical conferences and workshops, where Microsoft elaborates on its hardware plans for Windows devices.

Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is a discontinued operating system developed by Microsoft for mobile and embedded devices. It was part of the Windows Embedded family and served as the foundation of several classes of devices including the Handheld PC, Pocket PC, Auto PC, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smart Personal Objects Technology</span> Discontinued intelligent technology standard

The Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) is a discontinued initiative by Microsoft to create intelligent and personal home appliances, consumer electronics, and other objects through new hardware capabilities and software features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Mobile</span> Family of mobile operating systems by Microsoft (2000-2013)

Windows Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Vista</span> Seventh major release of Windows NT

Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006, and over the following two months, it was released in stages to business customers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released internationally and was made available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace; it is the first release of Windows to be made available through a digital distribution platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Media Center</span> Digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft

Windows Media Center (WMC) is a digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, as well as all editions of Windows 7 except Starter and Home Basic. It was also available on Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro as a paid add-on. It was discontinued as of Windows 10 and the operating system also removes all of Windows Media Center during an upgrade from previous versions of Windows, although it can reportedly be unofficially reinstalled using a series of Command Prompt commands.

Microsoft Gadgets are lightweight single-purpose applications, or software widgets, that can sit on a Microsoft Windows user's computer desktop, or are hosted on a web page. According to Microsoft, it will be possible for the different types of gadgets to run on different environments without modification, but this is currently not the case.

Compared with previous versions of Microsoft Windows, features new to Windows Vista are numerous, covering most aspects of the operating system, including additional management features, new aspects of security and safety, new I/O technologies, new networking features, and new technical features. Windows Vista also removed some others.

A compositing manager, or compositor, is software that provides applications with an off-screen buffer for each window. The compositing manager composites the window buffers into an image representing the screen and writes the result into the display memory. A compositing window manager is a window manager that is also a compositing manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Mobility Center</span>

Windows Mobility Center is a component of Microsoft Windows, introduced in Windows Vista, that centralizes information and settings most relevant to mobile computing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultra-mobile PC</span> Obsolete type of handheld computer

An ultra-mobile PC, or ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), is a miniature version of a pen computer, a class of laptop whose specifications were launched by Microsoft and Intel in Spring 2006. Sony had already made a first attempt in this direction in 2004 with its Vaio U series, which was only sold in Asia. UMPCs are generally smaller than subnotebooks, have a TFT display measuring (diagonally) about 12.7 to 17.8 centimetres, are operated like tablet PCs using a touchscreen or a stylus, and can also have a physical keyboard. There is no clear boundary between subnotebooks and ultra-mobile PCs, but UMPCs commonly have major features not found in the common clamshell laptop design, such as small keys on either side of the screen, or a slide-out keyboard.

The development of Windows Vista began in May 2001, prior to the release of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, and continued until November 2006, where it was eventually released to manufacturing. Windows Vista was then released generally to retail on January 30, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows DVD Maker</span> Discontinued DVD authoring program

Windows DVD Maker is a discontinued DVD authoring application developed by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista, available in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista for users to create slideshows and videos for playback on media devices including DVD players and the Xbox 360 home video game console. It is also available in the Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows 7, but it is no longer available as of the release of Windows 8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows System Assessment Tool</span> Computer assessment tool for Windows

The Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) is a module of Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11 that is available in the Control Panel under Performance Information and Tools (except in Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11). It measures various performance characteristics and capabilities of the hardware it is running on and reports them as a Windows Experience Index (WEI) score. The WEI includes five subscores: processor, memory, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and disk; the basescore is equal to the lowest of the subscores and is not an average of the subscores. WinSAT reports WEI scores on a scale from 1.0 to 5.9 for Windows Vista, 7.9 for Windows 7, and 9.9 for Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

Windows Display Driver Model is the graphic driver architecture for video card drivers running Microsoft Windows versions beginning with Windows Vista.

Windows Vista has many significant new features compared with previous Microsoft Windows versions, covering most aspects of the operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Speech Recognition</span> Speech recognition software

Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) is speech recognition developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista that enables voice commands to control the desktop user interface, dictate text in electronic documents and email, navigate websites, perform keyboard shortcuts, and operate the mouse cursor. It supports custom macros to perform additional or supplementary tasks.

Some of the new features included in Windows 7 are advancements in touch, speech and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, support for additional file formats, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.

Windows Desktop Gadgets is a discontinued widget engine for Microsoft Gadgets. Desktop Gadgets have been replaced by Windows 10 Taskbar Widgets. It was introduced with Windows Vista, in which it features a sidebar anchored to the side of the desktop. Its widgets can perform various tasks, such as displaying the time and date. In Windows Vista, the widgets are restricted to a sidebar but in Windows 7, they can be freely moved anywhere on the desktop.

References

  1. ↑ Bear, Eric (2003). "Designing Intuitive Hardware Controls". Microsoft. Archived from the original (EXE) on August 8, 2003. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  2. ↑ Thurrott, Paul (October 6, 2010). "WinHEC 2004 'Longhorn' Prototypes Gallery". Supersite for Windows. Penton Media . Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Fuller, Andrew; Schoppa, Chris (2004). "Auxiliary Displays For Mobile PCs". Microsoft. Archived from the original (PPT) on December 14, 2005. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ Suokko, Matti (2004). "Windows For Mobile PCs And Tablet PCs - CY05 And Beyond". Microsoft. Archived from the original (PPT) on December 14, 2005. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  5. ↑ Fish, Darrin (2004). "Windows For Mobile PCs and Tablet PCs - CY04". Microsoft. Archived from the original (PPT) on December 14, 2005. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Foley Jo, Mary (February 9, 2005). "Microsoft Details New Longhorn Display Functionality". PC Magazine . Ziff Davis . Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Fuller, Andrew (2005). "Auxiliary Display Platform for 'Longhorn'". Microsoft. Archived from the original (PPT) on December 14, 2005. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  8. ↑ Thurrott, Paul (October 6, 2010). "WinHEC 2005 Show Report and Photo Gallery". Supersite for Windows. Penton . Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  9. ↑ ExtremeTech (April 26, 2005). "WinHEC 2005–Day Two". Ziff Davis Media . Retrieved April 26, 2005.
  10. ↑ Blass, Evan (May 23, 2006). "Microsoft demos SideShow-enabled products at WinHEC". Engadget. AOL . Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ Geier, Eric (May 29, 2008). "Introducing Windows Vista - Windows SideShow". Que Publishing . Pearson Education . Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Thurrott, Paul (October 6, 2010). "Windows Vista Review, Part 5: Windows Vista Features: Mobility Features". SuperSite for Windows. Penton . Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Windows SideShow: Building Better Devices and PCs". Windows Hardware Engineering Conference . Microsoft. 2008. Archived from the original (PPTX) on December 23, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  14. ↑ Microsoft (October 30, 2008). "Windows SideShow and Television and Set-Top Boxes". Archived from the original (DOCX) on December 22, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  15. ↑ Microsoft (May 28, 2009). "Compelling Solutions for PC Gamers by Using Windows SideShow" (DOCX). Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  16. ↑ Microsoft. "Extending a Windows Sidebar Gadget to Windows SideShow". MSDN . Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  17. ↑ Shimpi, Anand (January 11, 2007). "CES 2007 Part I: Convergence Happened and the Most Impressive Demo of CES - SideShow in Action". AnandTech. Purch . Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Introduction to the Windows SideShow Platform". MSDN . Microsoft . Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Simulator for Windows SideShow". MSDN . Microsoft . Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  20. ↑ Lee, Meng-Wei (March 1, 2007). "Windows Vista SideShow Gadgets: Little Apps, Big Impact". DevX. QuinStreet . Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  21. ↑ Nvidia. "Preface" . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  22. ↑ "ASUSTeK Computer Inc". www.asus.com. Archived from the original on 2008-03-02.
  23. ↑ "A Living Picture's Momento WiFi photo frames with SideShow".
  24. ↑ Hands-on with the i-mate Momento 70
  25. ↑ "I-Mate shutting down Momento Live digiframe service".
  26. ↑ Engadget: Dell XPS 420 slated for October 19th launch
  27. ↑ "PC Pro Magazine | Subscription website".
  28. ↑ "Some MiniView display modes"
  29. ↑ HighTech Review: Dell XPS 430 Desktop PC unleashed
  30. ↑ Threemote website
  31. ↑ Discussion in Windows Experts Community, with contribution from Ikanos director: ThreeMote - Sideshow for Android & Windows Mobile
  32. ↑ MS Sideshow Free
  33. ↑ Windows Sidebar Gadget Gallery
  34. ↑ "Has Windows SideShow been removed from Windows 8.1?".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.