14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8, the next-generation operating system from Microsoft, should arrive on shelves without a feature that some users have been accustomed to ever since Windows Vista, namely desktop gadgets.
Apparently, the company decided to remove them from the final flavor of the platform, as it pushes it steps further from both Vista and Windows 7 platforms.
According to a recent article on Win8China, the latest internal builds of Windows 8 no longer feature the desktop gadgets, and the platform might not include them as the RTM milestone is reached.
These gadgets were still present in the Consumer Preview and Release Preview flavors of the Windows 8 platform but, as Microsoft is moving towards the general availability of the product, they are bound to disappear.
The aforementioned internal builds of Windows 8, in the 844x area, no longer feature mentions of these features in the control panel or desktop mode.
These builds are not available publicly, although Microsoft is expected to make the RTM flavor of Windows 8 available before the end of this month.
As The Verge notes, these desktop gadgets made their way into Windows along with Vista through a special sidebar. Based on HTML, they were meant to pull info from the web and deliver it to users fast and easy.
In Windows 7, Microsoft continued to support these gadgets, although it no longer made the sidebar available.
With Metro-style application being capable of providing users with the info they need on the Start Screen in Windows 8, it does not come as a surprise that the company felt these gadgets were no longer needed.
Following the RTM milestone in summer, Windows 8 is expected to reach general availability this fall, most probably in mid-October, three years after Windows 7 arrived on shelves. Windows 8 will be loaded both on x86 and ARM architectures at that time.