Windows SideShow

Windows SideShow is a technology introduced in Windows Vista that enables Windows PCs to drive a variety of auxiliary display devices connected to the main PC. These devices can be separate from or integrated into the main PC (e.g., a display embedded on the outside of a laptop lid), enabling access to information and media even when the PC is (mostly) turned off. SideShow can also drive the display of PC data on mobile phones and other devices that are connected via Bluetooth or other wireless network protocols.

SideShow display devices can be updated with a number of different kinds of information, such as contacts, maps, calendar appointments, and e-mail messages. They can then be consulted when the PC is otherwise powered down. Since the underlying platform is so power-efficient, SideShow displays integrated into laptops can run for hundreds of hours without draining the laptop battery, while still providing always-on access to data and multimedia content.

SideShow is coupled to the Windows Sidebar (Microsoft Gadgets) and can easily be extended to be compatible with SideShow secondary displays. However, hardware and software providers can also provide native abilities to allow for richer multimedia applications such as text, image, audio and video decode/playback. For example, a notebook with an in-lid display could be used as an MP3 player while powered down, with the notebook battery providing hundreds of hours of playback time because of the low power footprint that the SideShow platform maintains.

SideShow APIs
A Windows SideShow gadget is written by programming for the Windows SideShow Platform application programming interface (API), a native COM-based API available with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. A managed API for .NET developers was also released, and includes Visual Studio 2005/2008 templates to demonstrate how to write gadgets.

Devices for Windows SideShow have different hardware traits than devices such as cell phones or PDAs. The former have their own processor; they need not rely solely on the connecting computer for processing tasks. There are online and offline abilities that allow the device to run larger components on the connecting computer. The following list contains typical device display types and technologies.

Hardware-specific, native applications that provide rich-media experiences like audio and video playback that can be accessed through the SideShow user interface require the SDK from the specific platform vendor. For example, PortalPlayer, Inc. provides the Preface platform that includes abilities like MP3, AAC, MPEG-4 encode-decode and other digital media formats.

Market acceptance
Few OEMs accepted SideShow.

In 2007, Asus announced the W5Fe, a laptop with a full-color, 2.8-inch SideShow display on the front cover.

In 2006, after being featured at WinHEC, the 7 inch and 10 inch "Momento" digital photo frames were released by their developer, A Living Picture and provided Sideshow functionality over WiFi. They were subsequently marketed by i-mate along with its Momento Live picture service, before being shutdown in 2009.

In Oct 2007, Dell released the XPS 420, which included a Sideshow device on the top front of the machine. It was not widely promoted, found little use and quietly dropped when the XPS 430 came out a year later.

On February 1, 2010, Ikanos Consulting announced Threemote, a suite of Windows SideShow compatible products for embedded platforms including Windows Mobile, Google Android, and Kopin Golden-i. Threemote appears unsupported and had been unavailable from the Android Market for some time, nor was it available for Windows Mobile. In a blog posting in April 2010 the technical director of Ikanos consulting said that Sideshow was not dead and Threemote was "bubbling along".

On February 7, 2012, Chris James released "MS Sideshow Device", an implementation of a Windows Sideshow device for Google Android.

Microsoft discontinued the Sideshow gallery. A duplication of the sideshow gallery content is available at Windows Sidebar Gadget Gallery

With the introduction of Windows 8.1, Microsoft discontinued the technology and removed support for SideShow devices from the operating system.