Do Widgets Have a Place in CAD?

The non-CAD blogosphere is all atitter over Google's apparent abandonment of APIs in favor of widgets. Instead of accessing Google data through APIs [application programming interface], the idea is -- I gather -- to access it through widgets, gadgets, and the like.

Does this have any application to CAD, beyond some of the widgets written for Google Desktop Search?

In a related news item, XML is dead. Long live JSON. The problem with XML is that all those opening and closing tags make XML files difficult for humans to read. So, some are suggesting a replacement that easier to read by us, and easier to write data access programs.

For those of us who have live through other programming fashions, the passing of XML is wholly expected.

Comments

[David Koch]

Pardon my ignorance, but I am not understanding how widgets can replace an API. My limited understanding is that widgets are simply user interface components, such as a dialog box, to get input from the user. Does there not have to be a "program" behind the widget to act on that input?

A dialog box generated by a LISP or VBA routine could be viewed as a widget - but would be useless without the programming behind it. What am I missing?