Wow, we have somewhat of an Exclusive, Bunnios & Arnaudt have sent me a very interesting screenshot of Microsoft internal application that is an early design concept for Longhorn"s extended task (shelf)
Its built to use the skinning capabilities of XP and uses XML/HTML for the tasks that are "pinned" or stuck onto the shelf itself.
When expanding a task an additional window pops out with extended information (as shown) and additional tasks.
The Sideshow application can be locked to the left or Right of the Desktop and intergrates MSN Messenger and MS Outlook into the bar itself.
The task panes are called tickets and can be added or removed at leisure such tickets include weather maps, road traffic, webcams, live content and a task scheduler. Internally there are many more of these available on the lan at https://sideshow
We at Neowin don"t have this app available for download as it is built for Internal use and has a call-home feature (for bug testing) should a leak surface we"ll keep you all informed.
UPDATE: ok for all you non-believers, I can now prove that Microsoft Sideshow was already on the drawing boards at Microsoft Research in 2001. Gina Venolia, Co-developer Sideshow and Microsoft Research It"s real folks, we wouldn"t BS ya...