Comparison of widget engines

This is a comparison of widget engines. This article is not about widget toolkits that are used in computer programming to build graphical user interfaces.

General

Engine	Creator	Current Version	License	Status
Template:Rh | Adobe AIR	Adobe Systems	1.5	Proprietary	Discontinued
Template:Rh | AveDesk	Andreas Verhoeven	1.3	Proprietary	Abandoned
Template:Rh | Dashboard	Apple Inc.	Template:Latest stable release/Dashboard	Proprietary	Retired
Template:Rh | DesktopX	Stardock	3.5	Proprietary	Abandoned
Template:Rh2 | gDesklets	Martin Grimme and Christian Meyer	0.36	GPL	Abandoned
Template:Rh | Google Desktop Gadgets	Google	5.0.0701.18382	Proprietary	Discontinued
Template:Rh2 | Kapsules	Andrew Powell	0.9.9	Proprietary	Abandoned
Template:Rh | KlipFolio	Serence	5.0D	Proprietary	Active and supported
Template:Rh | Microsoft Gadgets	Microsoft	?	Proprietary	Discontinued
Template:Rh | NetFront	Access Co. Ltd.	4.2	Proprietary	Discontinued
Template:Rh | Netvibes	Netvibes	1.0	Proprietary	Active and supported
Template:Rh | Opera	Opera Software	Template:LSR	Proprietary	Discontinued
Template:Rh | Plasma	KDE (Aaron Seigo, main developer)	Template:Latest stable software release/KDE Software Compilation 4	GPL	Active and Supported
Template:Rh | Rainmeter	Kimmo 'Rainy' Pekkola	Template:Latest stable software release/Rainmeter	GPL	Active and Supported
Template:Rh | Screenlets	Rico Pfaus (AKA RYX)	0.1.5	GPL	Abandoned
Template:Rh | Serious Samurize	Gustaf & Oscar Lundh	1.64	Proprietary	Abandoned
Template:Rh | SuperKaramba	Hans Karlsson	0.39	GPL	Abandoned
Template:Rh | WebKit	Apple Inc.	?	BSD+LGPL	Active and supported
Template:Rh | WidSets	Nokia	?	Proprietary	Discontinued
Template:Rh2 | Yahoo! Widgets	Ed Voas, Michael Galloway, and Sam Magnuson Template:R	4.5.2	Proprietary	Discontinued
Engine	Creator	Current Version	License	Status

Operating system support

Engine	Mac OS X	Windows NT5 (XP)	Windows NT6 (Vista, 7/8/10+)	Linux	Android
Template:Rh | Adobe AIR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Template:Rh | AveDesk	No	Yes	Yes	No	?
Template:Rh | Dashboard	YesTemplate:R	No	No	No	?
Template:Rh | DesktopX	No	Yes	Yes	No	?
Template:Rh | gDesklets	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	Yes	?
Template:Rh | Google Desktop Gadgets	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Template:Rh2 | Kapsules	No	Yes	?	No	?
Template:Rh | KlipFolio	No	Yes	Yes	No	?
Template:Rh | Microsoft Gadgets	No	No	Yes	No	?
Template:Rh | NetFront	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	?
Template:Rh | Netvibes	Dashboard bridge	Using browser	Using browser	Using browser	?
Template:Rh | Opera	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Template:Rh | Plasma	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Template:Rh | Rainmeter	No	No	Yes	No	No
Template:Rh | Screenlets	No	No	No	Yes	?
Template:Rh | Serious Samurize	No	Yes	YesTemplate:R	No	?
Template:Rh | SuperKaramba	No	No	No	Yes	?
Template:Rh | WebKit	?	?	?	?	?
Template:Rh | WidSets	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	NoTemplate:R	?
Template:Rh | Yahoo! Widgets	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Engine	Mac OS X	Windows XP (NT5)	Windows (NT6) Vista+	Linux	Android

Technical

Languages

Which programming languages the engines support. Most engines rely upon interpreted languages.

Engine	HTML	XHTML	CSS	XML	JavaScript	Perl	Python	Ruby	C++	Executable	VBScript
Template:Rh | Adobe AIRTemplate:R	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?
Template:Rh | AveDeskTemplate:R	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	?	?
Template:Rh | Dashboard	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	YesTemplate:R	YesTemplate:R	?
Template:Rh | DesktopX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?
Template:Rh | gDesklets	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	?
Template:Rh | Google Desktop Gadgets	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	?
Template:Rh2 | KapsulesTemplate:R	?	?	?	?	No	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	Yes
Template:Rh | KlipFolio	No	No	YesTemplate:R	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?
Template:Rh | Microsoft Gadgets	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes (as ActiveX)	Yes	Yes
Template:Rh | NetFrontTemplate:R	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?
Template:Rh | Netvibes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?
Template:Rh | OperaTemplate:R	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?
Template:Rh | Plasma	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
Template:Rh | Rainmeter	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Template:Rh | Screenlets	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	?
Template:Rh | Serious SamurizeTemplate:RTemplate:R	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Template:Rh | SuperKaramba	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
Template:Rh | WebKit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	?	?
Template:Rh | WidSets	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Template:Rh | Yahoo! WidgetsTemplate:R	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	NoTemplate:R	No
Engine	HTML	XHTML	CSS	XML	JavaScript	Perl	Python	Ruby	C++	Executable	VBScript

Formats and Development

Engine	IDE	Widget Container	Widget MIME Type
Template:Rh | Adobe AIR	Flex Builder 3, Flash CS4, Dreamweaver CS4	ZIP	application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip
Template:Rh | AveDesk	AveScripter	ZIP	?
Template:Rh | Dashboard	Dashcode	ZIP	application/x-macbinary
Template:Rh | DesktopX	Desktop X Pro	EXE	?
Template:Rh | gDesklets	No	Tar.gz	?
Template:Rh | Google Desktop Gadgets	Google Desktop Gadget Designer	ZIP	app/gg
Template:Rh2 | Kapsules	?	ZIP	?
Template:Rh | KlipFolio	No	Proprietary XML Format	?
Template:Rh | Microsoft Gadgets	NoTemplate:R	ZIP	application/x-windows-gadget
Template:Rh | NetFront	No	ZIP	application/x-opera-widgets
Template:Rh | Netvibes	No	Online	?
Template:Rh | Opera	Opera Dragonfly	ZIP	application/x-opera-widgets
Template:Rh | Plasma	No	ZIP, with plasmoid as extension instead of zip	?
Template:Rh | Rainmeter	No	ZIP, with rmskin as extension instead of zip	application/vnd.rainmeter.SkinInstaller
Template:Rh | Screenlets	No	Tar.gz	?
Template:Rh | Serious Samurize	Serious Samurize Config Editor	ZIP	?
Template:Rh | SuperKaramba	No	Tar.gz	?
Template:Rh | WebKit	No	?	?
Template:Rh | WidSets	?	?	?
Template:Rh | Yahoo! Widgets	NoTemplate:R	Proprietary Format, ZIP	application/vnd.yahoo.Widget
Engine	IDE	Widget Container	Widget MIME Type

Development Tools

As widgets are largely combinations of HTML or XHTML, CSS, and Javascript in most cases, standard AJAX tools, such as Eclipse ATF, can be used for development. Specialized tools may give access to additional capabilities supplied by frameworks such as Dojo or Openrico.