Microsoft Gadgets is described as 'Are light-weight single-purpose applications that can sit on the users computer desktop, or are hosted on a web page. According to Microsoft, it will be possible for the different types of gadgets to run on different environments without modification, but this' and is an app. There are nine alternatives to Microsoft Gadgets for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Android, Android Tablet and BSD apps. The best Microsoft Gadgets alternative is Rainmeter, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Microsoft Gadgets are XWidget, Start8, Winstep Xtreme and 8GadgetPack.