No, the real reason behind this is the push to get developers of these gadgets to move to developing Metro tiles and Apps. In fact about three months ago after a normal complete reinstall of my main workstation I was searching for one of my favorite gadgets (a remote desktop gadget) and headed over to the Microsoft gallery to grab it. When I hit the page it was no longer available and simply had the message;

“Because we want to focus on the exciting possibilities of the newest version of Windows, the Windows website no longer hosts the gadget gallery.

Gadgets installed from untrusted sources can harm your computer and can access your computer's files, show you objectionable content, or change their behavior at any time. If you are concerned about the safety of gadgets you’ve downloaded in the past, you can learn more about gadgets and steps you can take to protect your PC.”

This pretty much spells it out for you. Microsoft is moving away from the desktop gadget and recommending people disable the sidebar completely. In MSA (Microsoft Security Advisory) 2719662 is says; “Microsoft is announcing the availability of an automated Microsoft Fix it solution that disables the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets on supported editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7”

Since desktop gadgets are now “bad” you can always wait and get a new form of gadget in the form of MetroUI Apps and Live Tiles. The problem is that they are also vulnerable as a talk scheduled to be held at Blackhat later this month will let you know. While we understand that Microsoft is going to do everything to coax Windows 7 and Vista users (the figure that people holding on to XP are a given) to migrate to Windows 8, we think that claiming that sidebar gadgets are any less secure than Metro Apps is very disingenuous. It makes us wonder what else they are not being all that honest about?

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