I can't imagine my desktop without them, I use some of my widgets even with Microsoft Vista, because I didn't find anything better to use with Vista sidebar!

There are hundreds of them in Microsoft Library, but they are not that good as the widgets of DesktopX library.

Gotta have 'em! Maybe they have been over hyped but I value the useful ones. When I submit a screen shot I like it to be as I really use it so my shots usually aren't filled up with a lot of widgets. The one I did for Synthek used a lot of different elements but even then I thought it was very practical. Make it cool but useful is what I think.

I use/make/share them and i can't imagine my PC without them

My sentiments also

There are some that I can't imagine not running

1. Littleboys Volume Changer (and plugin) - best use of scroll wheel ever.
2. My customized media player (based of silica MP3)
3. Pandora's box by RomanDA
4. Stealth Wireless by Exudus Crow
5. Roman's HC Pro is always running too (free version)
   

There are some that I use often:

1. Will Rose's Animated Weather Satellite and Radar v2.1a
2. Carls new sSI 0.98 Basic skinnable system meters

I think that widgets can be extarordinarily useful and fill many small gaps in people's lives.  I think the DX coders are starting become more cohesive and data is being shared more and more.  That's good for everyone

I run 4 fulltime.CPUand RAM meters I consider essential,clock and supercalendar are for fun.  

Vadim's Statchecker is shaping up nicely.  

I don't use widgets anymore as a separate applications because I have done the full-fledged desktop where integrated system info, weather, todo, events list, clock, calendar etc... There are only three things that I use (but as a gadgets) - Media Player, Launch Bar and Skin Shecker. So I use DesktopX only for development. (The best software I have found for this by the way) But this is my way.

However I'm sure that a lot of people who want to customize their Windows but has no time (or possibilities) to create own desktops must use the widgets. As a separate applications or as a parts of DX Themes.

most of the time i need the Wi-Fi and Battery widget running, thats about it because SysMetrix takes care of my other info needs.

I would rather use DesktopX for all my needs instead of having a bunch of mini apps all over the place.

Got that right. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but Yahoo released version 4 of Yahoo Widgets the other day. I think all the advertisement done was a submission to Digg that didn't reach the front page. The only advertising I've seen Yahoo do with their widgets is a little ad on the homepage for two weekends last year.

I think the problem with widgets is that it's hard to think of new uses, and even if you do, people might have no use for it. I use pretty basic widgets of weather, system stats, calendar, and mail checker. I don't have any use for any other kind of widget, gadget or object. Basic information is all I need, and that in itself limits how far these things can be taken. It basically comes down to which ones look the best.

Ditto   

A add:

Don't Worry about DX (for themes/widgets/gadgets/or objects) i can said that here in france Informatics Newspapers are ok to said that konfu is more simple but that DX (and others SD softs) are simply more powerful, more difficult to make but with more possibilities ( An idea of this possibilities ).

for answer at your last question an example i have made a simple analog clock in widget and in object result:

Vista DX analog clock (object)
2185 dl overall
Vista DX analog clock (.exe)
1543 dl overall

My sentiments pretty much mirror the comments made by vStyler in #6.
If I need the temp outside I can quickly pull up weather.com or any one of a million sites, or simply look at the thermometer. If I want to see the weather forecast I pull it up, look at it and I'm done with it. There is no practical reason to keep a weather widget running all the time. If the weather is changing that quickly I should think it time to seek shelter.
Time and calendar... Yep, it's right there on my systray. I check my email in outlook and my calendar events are in outlook as well.
Widget media players are nice, but honestly, If I am listening to music, my stereo does a much better job and sounds better than my PC. If I need to listen to an mp3 or cd on my PC, well... WMP is there, it does ALL I need it to do.

Yes, RomanDA's thread says quite a bit on this. (has stardock even acknowledged the thread yet? The last I looked it was being ignored like the plague, from SD)

I think the only thing that is going to make Widgets a success is breaking away from the normal and routine type of objects that are being created, and find a new whiz-bang popularity item. The only ones that I have seen that are even approaching this realm are Vad and Roman. The average skinner just does not posses the coding skills. These guys do possess both.
If Stardock is worried about the future of DX in a widget capacity I would think the logical thing to do would be to follow through on one of your "How Stardock let down the community" items. Get some professional, quality documentation out there for the products. Coding is something that is too complex for the average power user even unless proper, well structured documentation is provided. Tutorials, vids, the whole works.

PLEASE, let's not have any Weather Widget authors get in a snit about this either. Their work is fine and they make some beautiful pieces.

Carry on...

I'm with vstyler and Phoon, gadgets/widgets just reproduce information I already have somewhere else, albeit with much more style.
The only gadgets I would find useful are rss readers, but no one seems to have produced one that works consistently.
I'm looking into what it takes to code a reader. Maybe someone with skinning skills can make it pretty if I get it figured out.