Active Desktop
E182427
Active Desktop was a Windows feature that allowed users to display web content and interactive elements directly on their desktop background.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Active Desktop canonical | 1 |
| Ambient desktop | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1621420 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Active Desktop Context triple: [Windows 98, includedComponent, Active Desktop]
-
A.
Active Service
"Active Service" is a lesser-known novel by American author Stephen Crane that explores themes of war, duty, and personal transformation.
-
B.
Active Ethernet
Active Ethernet is a point-to-point fiber access technology that delivers dedicated high-speed Ethernet connections to end users, often used as an alternative to passive optical network solutions.
-
C.
Hands On
"Hands On" is a track from Kanye West's gospel-influenced hip-hop album *Jesus Is King*, featuring a contemplative, minimalist production and religious themes.
-
D.
Active Cosmetics Division
Active Cosmetics Division is a L'Oréal business unit specializing in dermatological skincare brands often distributed through pharmacies and healthcare professionals.
-
E.
Behaviour Interactive
Behaviour Interactive is a Canadian video game developer best known for creating the asymmetric multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Active Desktop Target entity description: Active Desktop was a Windows feature that allowed users to display web content and interactive elements directly on their desktop background.
-
A.
Active Service
"Active Service" is a lesser-known novel by American author Stephen Crane that explores themes of war, duty, and personal transformation.
-
B.
Active Ethernet
Active Ethernet is a point-to-point fiber access technology that delivers dedicated high-speed Ethernet connections to end users, often used as an alternative to passive optical network solutions.
-
C.
Hands On
"Hands On" is a track from Kanye West's gospel-influenced hip-hop album *Jesus Is King*, featuring a contemplative, minimalist production and religious themes.
-
D.
Active Cosmetics Division
Active Cosmetics Division is a L'Oréal business unit specializing in dermatological skincare brands often distributed through pharmacies and healthcare professionals.
-
E.
Behaviour Interactive
Behaviour Interactive is a Canadian video game developer best known for creating the asymmetric multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Windows feature
ⓘ
desktop customization technology ⓘ |
| allows |
display of HTML documents as wallpaper
ⓘ
display of interactive web content on desktop ⓘ display of web pages on desktop background ⓘ embedding of ActiveX controls on desktop ⓘ |
| availableInVersion |
Windows 2000
ⓘ
Windows 98 ⓘ Windows 98 ⓘ
surface form:
Windows 98 Second Edition
Windows ME ⓘ
surface form:
Windows Me
Windows XP ⓘ |
| basedOn |
HTML
ⓘ
web content ⓘ |
| category |
Microsoft Windows component
ⓘ
discontinued Microsoft software feature ⓘ |
| configuredVia |
Customize Desktop dialog
ⓘ
Desktop tab ⓘ Display Properties ⓘ |
| defaultState | disabled by default in many configurations ⓘ |
| developedBy | Microsoft ⓘ |
| featureOf |
Windows
ⓘ
surface form:
Windows desktop
|
| goal | integrate the web and the Windows desktop experience ⓘ |
| introducedInVersion | Windows 98 ⓘ |
| introducedWith | Internet Explorer 4.0 shell integration ⓘ |
| knownFor |
performance impact on low-end systems
ⓘ
potential security risks from active web content ⓘ |
| operatingSystem |
Windows
ⓘ
surface form:
Microsoft Windows
|
| relatedTo |
Active Channel
ⓘ
ActiveX ⓘ Windows Sidebar ⓘ Windows Sidebar ⓘ
surface form:
Windows desktop gadgets
|
| removedInVersion |
Windows Vista
ⓘ
later versions of Windows ⓘ |
| replacedBy |
Windows Sidebar
ⓘ
Windows Sidebar ⓘ
surface form:
Windows desktop gadgets
|
| requires | Internet Explorer integration with Windows shell ⓘ |
| status | discontinued ⓘ |
| supports |
Web content subscriptions
ⓘ
animated and dynamic content on desktop background ⓘ desktop items called Active Desktop items ⓘ synchronized web content ⓘ |
| timePeriod |
early 2000s
ⓘ
late 1990s ⓘ |
| userCan |
add web pages as desktop items
ⓘ
position web items on desktop ⓘ update web content automatically ⓘ |
| usesTechnology |
Trident layout engine
ⓘ
surface form:
Internet Explorer rendering engine
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Active Desktop Description of subject: Active Desktop was a Windows feature that allowed users to display web content and interactive elements directly on their desktop background.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Ambient desktop