There are two things which look and act similar but are different, gadgets and widgets. Widgets can be referred to any icons or graphical interface element that is operated by a computer or internet use to execute a preferred function online or on the computer. You can add a widget in all kind of web pages. A gadget acts just like a widget, often fulfilling the same purpose, but it is proprietary or called to be self-contained. It only works on a certain website or a specific set of websites. For example, OpenSocial...
OpenSocial is useful for websites to start hosting social applications. Apache Shindig is an OpenSocial container and helps you to start hosting these apps on your website. OpenSocial is not just about gadgets and widgets for your Website. With it, your website can be a container or can store persistent data and publish notices/alerts called activities. OpenSocial has vast verity of uses including social mashups, social websites and applications, gadgets/application creation, CMS and social...