Active Desktop

Active Desktop was a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0's

optional Windows Desktop Update that allowed users to add HTML Active Desktop
content to the desktop, along with some other features. This function Developer(s) Microsoft
was intended to be installed on the then-current Windows 95 Operating system Microsoft
operating system. It was also included in Windows 98 and later
Windows
Windows operating systems up through 32-bit XP, but was absent
from XP Professional x64 Edition (for AMD64) and all subsequent Successor Windows
versions of Windows. Its status on XP 64-bit edition (for Itanium) and Sidebar and
on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 is not Windows
widely known. This corresponded to version Internet Explorer 4.0 to Desktop
6.x, but not Internet Explorer 7.[1] Gadgets

HTML could be added both in place of the regular wallpaper and as

independent resizable desktop items. Items available on-line could be regularly updated and synchronized so
users could stay updated without visiting the website in their browser.

Active Desktop worked much like desktop widget technology in that it allowed users to place customized
information on their desktop.

Contents
History
See also
References
External links

History
The introduction of the Active Desktop marked Microsoft's attempt to capitalize on the push technology trend
led by PointCast.[2] Active Desktop placed a number of "channels" on the user's computer desktop that
provided continually-updated information, such as news headlines and stock quotes, without requiring the user
to open a Web browser. However, its most notable feature was that it allowed MJPGs and animated GIFs to
animate correctly when set as the desktop wallpaper.

Active Desktop debuted as part of an Internet Explorer 4.0 preview release in July 1997,[3] and came out with
the launch of the 4.0 browser in September that year.[4] for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, as a feature of
the optional Windows Desktop Update offered to users during the upgrade installation. While the Windows
Desktop Update is commonly referred to (improperly) as Active Desktop itself, it is actually an entire
Windows shell upgrade from v4.0 to v4.71, or v4.72, with numerous changes to the Windows interface,
resulting in an appearance and functionality level nearly indistinguishable from the then yet-to-be-released
Windows 98. Features include the option to allow uppercase filenames (the old v4.0 desktop would forcibly
display uppercase filenames in title case), configurable one-click hot-tracking file selection, customizable per-
folder HTML display settings, QuickLaunch mini-buttons on the Taskbar next to the Start button, upgraded
Start Menu allowing drag and drop item reordering and allowing right-click context menus for item renaming,
etc. With the update, Windows Explorer featured an Address bar in which Internet addresses can be entered
and seamlessly browsed.

Active Desktop never attained any significant degree of popularity,[5] as its drawbacks included high use of
system resources and reduction in system stability. The component was retained in Windows XP[6] but was
replaced by a feature named Windows Sidebar in Windows Vista.[7] Sidebar in turn was called Windows
Desktop Gadgets in Windows 7, which also allows components to be added to the desktop, but it was also
discontinued due to security issues; Windows 8 replaced it with live tiles in the Start screen. Windows Server
2003 R2 32-bit is the most recent Microsoft operating system to support Active Desktop. It appears that the
64-bit version of Windows XP no longer supports Active Desktop. However, it still provides the option to
display Web pages and channels built with Microsoft's Channel Definition Format (CDF) on the desktop.

The HTML displaying capabilities are now mainly used for creating original wallpapers and adding search
boxes to the desktop. For example, a user could copy the following code to display Wikipedia's search-box on
the desktop:

<form
action="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search"
id="searchform"
name="searchform">
<input
accesskey="f"
id="searchInput"
name="search"
type="text"
value="" />
<input
id="searchGoButton"
name="go"
type="submit"
value="Go" />
</form>

See also
Active Channel
Channel Definition Format

References
1. "CDF Reference" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101226233037/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/aa768137%28v%3Dvs.85%29.aspx). Microsoft. 2010. Archived from the original (htt
p://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa768137(v=vs.85).aspx) on December 26, 2010.
Retrieved 2016-02-20.
2. Kelly, Kevin; Wolf, Gary (March 1997). "Push!" (https://web.archive.org/web/19991013012158/h
ttp://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.03/ff_push_pr.html). Wired. 5 (3). Archived from the original
(https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.03/ff_push_pr.html) on October 13, 1999. Retrieved
2014-09-13.
3. Karpinski, Richard (1997-07-21). "Microsoft Tunes in Active Channel". Communications Week
(673). pp. 11–12. ISSN 0746-8121 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0746-8121).
4. Markoff, John (1997-09-29). "Microsoft vs. Netscape: The Border War Heats Up" (https://www.n
ytimes.com/1997/09/29/business/microsoft-vs-netscape-the-border-war-heats-up.html). The
New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331).
 5. Deinert, Florian; Magedanz, Thomas (December 2010). "Introducing Widget-based IMS Client
Applications". Mobile Networks and Applications. 15 (6): 845–852. doi:10.1007/s11036-010-
0239-5 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11036-010-0239-5). ISSN 1383-469X (https://www.worldc
at.org/issn/1383-469X). S2CID 29163522
(https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:29163522).
6. Phelps, Alan (April 2002). "Online: Use Active Desktop to enliven Windows XP". Smart
Computing in Plain English. 13 (4). p. 73. ISSN 1093-4170 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1093
-4170).
7. Miller, Michael J. (2006-04-25). "The Truth About Vista". PC Magazine. 25 (7). p. 53.
ISSN 0888-8507 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0888-8507).

External links
Internet Explorer 4.0 Desktop Gallery (https://web.archive.org/web/20040610054229/http://ww
w.microsoft.com/windows/ie/previous/gallery/default.mspx) (archived)
Detailed technical documentation of Internet Explorer 4.0 features/changes (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20110912062210/http://www.nwnetworks.com/iehistory.htm) (archived)

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This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 05:35 (UTC).

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