Microsoft has embraced gadgets.  Gadgets are essentially the same as widgets.  In Stardock's DesktopX, gadgets are widgets that are "stand alone" (i.e. effectively the same as programs).

One cannot ignore Microsoft's entry onto the stage.  The popular widget-enabling program, Konfabulator, was bought up by Yahoo and turned into Yahoo Widgets.

Stardock isn't terribly interested in being bought up, but we will be embracing and extending Microsoft's gadget platform.  Microsoft's gadget platform currently allows its content to run on the Windows Vista sidebar as well as be able to be placed on web pages.  Their gallery of gadgets shows some of the content already. On a website such as Live.com you can then add those gadgets to your website.

Personally, having gadgets on a web page reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Homer discovers the Internet and ends up making a home page full of flying toasters, dancing babies, and other junk.  By making Microsoft gadgets be able to run on both the desktop and on the web I fear you'll end up with the least common demonitator in gadgets being created. 

Stardock's plans for DesktopX make use of Microsoft's gadgets but go in a different direction.  The biggest problem we have with Microsoft's gadgets is that they are a pain to create, even with the SDK.  The problem isn't so much the tools but rather the same kinds of problems DesktopX anbd Konfabulator users have discovered over the years -- making a widget or gadget requires re-inventing the wheel each time.

What Stardock will be doing is creating software and technologies that act as libraries for gadgets. That is, make it so that gadget makers (or even entire desktop makers) can plug into their creations modules that already contain the necessary code for some function that they can then send inputs into. So making a clock or an RSS feed or some other common gadget would be the starting point rather than the end point.

Stay tuned...