The file I need is textfile.txt on a network share accessible from my machine. Is there any way to display this text on my windows 7 desktop using the least number of additional frameworks installed (assume everyone on the network who will use this app has .Net pre-installed). The contents of the file may change.
Thank you for looking.
Developing a Windows Sidebar Gadget will give you a head start. You won't need any client side frameworks for the task at hand because every action you need to code can be done in JavaScript.