Microsoft SideShow

The continuous evolution of technology and the impressive advances that everyone is witnessing today each began with an idea, a concept that a person or a team tried to transform into something functional and useful for a relevant number of users.

This has also been the case with Windows Sidebar which evolved from this small project called Microsoft SideShow. This piece of kit illustrates the initial layout and functionality that were in focus and which were later on implemented into the new application brought by Windows Vista.

SideShow consists of a sidebar docked in the right side of the screen and which contains several so-called 'tickets'. These items each correspond to a certain service or function, so the users would have the possibility to access the desired information much faster and in a more friendly manner than having to open the Internet browser, then typing in the URL address and scanning for the content inside the webpage.

Microsoft SideShow can be customized easily and the extent of personalization is quite broad. The aforementioned tickets can be organized into groups and the sidebar can be locked so no accidental drag and drop operation can affect its contents.

There are some welcomed built-in backup and restore functions, which can help a lot in preserving the safety of the contained data and having it readily available for recovery. This program also made possible the synchronization of Messenger contacts with only a couple of clicks.

The behavior of Microsoft SideShow, the connectivity settings, as well as the appearance related options could also be adjusted with minimal efforts from the designated 'Properties' area of the application.