There are two uses for widgets: passive display of information created elsewhere (like the weather widget) and active manipulation of data (like a calculator or dictionary interface).

For the former, I'd rather have the information always be visible in some kind of minimal or ghosted (and less gimmicky) form on my desktop. Sort of like Stattoo, although that's a little too constricted.

For the latter there is always another tool that does the same thing, and I've already developed habits centered around those tools.