Google Desktop 2 (Beta ... of course)
Monday, August 22, 2005
The just-released (beta) second incarnation of the Google Desktop Search is packed with new features, most notably a Sidebar that can handle RSS, search email (including GMail) and a whole lot more. At first glance it seems a little bulky for the usual simple-is-elegant Google design, but this Sidebar seems to do a lot more that its visage suggests. Also, to the relief of thousands, it's Google Desktop now lets you manually remove items from the Desktop Search database, which was one of the major flaws in the first version.Pretty much every major newsource will have something about this tool in the next few days. The LA Times focuses on the SideBar in the new Google Desktop 2, finding it a step closer to a Windows-killer:
Sidebar is "not an operating system, it's not a browser," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Kelsey Group. "But it has elements of both in a certain way." [...] Google's Sidebar also may contribute to the company's growing feud with Microsoft. The software lets users bypass parts of Microsoft's Windows operating system, which analysts said was sure to aggravate executives at the Redmond, Wash.-based company. For example, a computer user who types "word" into Sidebar's Quick Find tool may find an icon for the Microsoft Word application among the results. The program can be launched directly from the toolbar. Sidebar also displays frequently used files and applications, which means that computer users don't need to search through Windows folders to find that spreadsheet on which they were working. It also finds Web information without having to open Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. The worry for Microsoft is that the fewer Windows features its customers use, the less important they will believe the operating system to be.In the NYTimes John Markoff, wonders what Google will be spending their next $US4billion on as Google stock gets released this week, concluding, sadly, that a space elevator doesn't appear on the cards anymore!
Meanwhile, Cory Doctorow is concerned that Google might be monitoring more than it should during web searches.
[Posted by Unknown] [11:38 pm]
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