Rich presentation taskbar buttons is nothing new, we have seen them from days of Windows XP. Windows Media Player, Windows Search, etc, has more than just buttons in the task bar. In Windows 7, Microsoft made it default to display only the icons of the currently opened or pinned applications in task bar. Also, developers didn’t really take advantage of this concept which Microsoft envisioned. Microsoft considered these rich taskbar buttons as a way to improve multi-tasking. For example, you can play/pause audio in the app that is running in the background without switching to its windows. Microsoft has recently patented this idea and I doubt that Microsoft might be bringing back this feature to cater mouse/keyboard users. Overview: The present invention provides a system or method for displaying rich presentation taskbar buttons for a corresponding application. In one example, the rich presentation taskbar button may receive content from an application through a programming interface. The present invention further relates to a system and method for displaying a rich presentation...

The rest of the story...
Microsoft News