Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!ncar!unmvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!oberon!pollux.usc.edu!papa
From: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: What is the origin of the term "gadget"?
Message-ID: <15215@oberon.USC.EDU>
Date: 7 Feb 89 21:30:59 GMT
References: <2811867126-106302@Sierra>
Sender: news@oberon.USC.EDU
Reply-To: papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa)
Organization: Felsina Software, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 17

In article <2811867126-106302@Sierra> Kimbrough@dsg.csc.ti.COM (Kerry Kimbrough) writes:
>   > 	Who is the inventor of the `gadget' term (used in this fashion)?
>
>Whoever it was, he/she did us no favor. This is second only to "widget" as the
>most aggressively meaningless bit of jargon ever promoted.

The term "gadget" has been used since 1985 when the Commodore Amiga was
released.  Amiga gadgets are part of the Amiga Intuition User Interface.
As with the X11 gadgets, they are windowless.  Intuition comes with built-
-in support for label gadgets, toggle gadgets, button gadgets, string gadgets,
proportional gadgets (a more general version of a scrollbar gadget).

-- Marco Papa
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