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I should add that I use X1, http://x1.com/, to index and access the Aid4Mail converted emails.

In Outlook: I have a rule to filter all mail I expect to be important (e.g. from my leaders; addressed directly to me, certain keywords in the subject) to an "Attention" folder which I use as my default. Anything else, known, that doesn't usually need attention (automated reports, marketing etc.) is auto-filed.

This allows me to concentrate on "Attention" (named to sort to the top) and have Inbox for things I should check on sometime.

When searching is necessary I use an external tool X1 which auto-indexes mail and files. I don't know how it stacks up against competitors ( I hear good things about Xobni ) but it works fine. Often though it's simplest to go directly to the folder but with auto-archiving enabled that gets annoying for anything but recent mails.

For searching Microsoft products you can't beat X1 as far as user interface.

MS have the free Windows Desktop Search for 2000, XP, & 2003, which gives most of what Vista gives, just not built in to the start menu. If you prefer a non-Microsoft solution, Copernic (also free) is good (that's what I use). At the enterprise level, I've heard good things about X1 (though that's *not* free). I'm afraid I don't know of any open-source ones.

For the record, I use Eudora, which comes with X1 built-in for free (doesn't search files, just Eudora though).

because I can search my shared Directories in my Home Network, and it looks better and I can customize it and it's faster and ... ok problem is Google Desktop Search is free, so my client is going to jump off and will demand installation of the free programm instead of the 70 bucks programm. Maybe I just shouldn't tell him. BTW the biggest change: the free enterprise edition can now search in shared directories. http://www.x1.com/

I started deploying X1 http://www.x1.com/ in a small company where I do the IT service and it beats every other desktop search appliance I tested. I haven't found one necessary file type it doesn't index and the reaction time is usually 1 second. I can't tell how well it works in larger network but for small companies it's really worth testing. I think the company will have their ROI in 4-8 weeks.

Companies like X1 (recently bought by Yahoo) have been making desktop search systems for years that are vastly superior to the new arrivals in the desktop search wars. It just wasn't a popular topic until very recently.

what makes WinFS better than any of the other desktop search engines now available?

Google Desktop Search
Copernic Desktop Search
X1
DocYouMeant Hound
Find Files XP

or any of the other hundreds of file search programs on Tucows. From all of the descriptions I've read, it seems totally pie in the sky. One commenter said you would go to the games library and then click on quake 3 instead of going to c:\games\quake3. Who does that anyway? You go to Start->id Software->Quake or Start->Games->Quake if you've organized them. However, if nothing else, it will at least give Intel/AMD a reason to keep making faster processors. I just hope Microsoft doesn't monopolize the desktop search space in the process.

According to the "About," they're using Outside In by Stellent to parse file formats. This lib has been around for a long, long time, which is why you can search MacWrite files.

The "About" also refers to X1, which is another desktop search solution.

http://www.x1.com/

X1 is a great desktop search tool for windows. It can search way more file types then google or msn. Right now it's costs money, but Yahoo is going to start giving it away for free to get into the destkop search market. I don't know what Yahoo is paying them, but getting $80 of software for free sounds nice.

Hello? What about the company that invented this category, X1? Yahoo's using them for their desktop search app, and they're considered the standard-bearer by many. Definitely the most feature-rich (250+ file formats, netscape and eudora mail support, etc. etc.)

Well, if we're talking alternatives then check out Copernic http://www.copernic.com/ A lot better than Googles deskbar - especially if you're moving your files around.

Yahoo! has licensed the X1 search software for Windows from tech incubator Idealab, in an attempt to compete both with Google's browser-based desktop search download, and the current leader Copernic.

Well, if we're talking alternatives then check out Copernic http://www.copernic.com/ A lot better than Googles deskbar - especially if you're moving your files around.

Yahoo! has licensed the X1 search software for Windows from tech incubator Idealab, in an attempt to compete both with Google's browser-based desktop search download, and the current leader Copernic.

Not entirely true.

Copernic doesnt support some of the file formats that X1 does including zip files, wordperfect files...

For more discussion see http://forums.x1.com/viewtopic.php?t=1014&highligh t=copernic or for a discussion of X1 vs competitor see http://forums.x1.com/viewtopic.php?t=1014&highligh t=copernic

Note the dates on some of the earlier messages may be referring to older versions of both products.

Not entirely true.

Copernic doesnt support some of the file formats that X1 does including zip files, wordperfect files...

For more discussion see http://forums.x1.com/viewtopic.php?t=1014&highligh t=copernic or for a discussion of X1 vs competitor see http://forums.x1.com/viewtopic.php?t=1014&highligh t=copernic

Note the dates on some of the earlier messages may be referring to older versions of both products.

X1 Website

15 Day Trial Version

X1 Website

15 Day Trial Version

Besides, X1 has been doing this for years and it works much better than this new thingy from the company that doesn't invent, simply copies and improves. X1 is not free, but it beats this Google Desktop search on almost every aspect. Don't believe me? Try for yourself.

There is a program called X1 that does the same thing. It's been out for a long time and works with Mozilla Mail and just about everything else on my HD.

http://www.x1.com/

It also works with a lot more file types.
Here is part of the list

There is a program called X1 that does the same thing. It's been out for a long time and works with Mozilla Mail and just about everything else on my HD.

http://www.x1.com/

It also works with a lot more file types.
Here is part of the list

I wonder if it's better than the award winning X1?

Just got it today, strange coincidence.

Will be interesting to compare them, and I recommend Windows users to check out X1 too. If you can bear with it updating its index the first time you run it (will take a few hours for it to index your files, but will run in the background), you might find it useful.

I really think that technology like this actually has the effect of making us much smarter. Any old complex task or idea that crosses my mind is only a couple of clicks and a query away.

I can spend 1 minute seaching, longer reading and know enough that I can at least follow or participate in a conversation. I know that I can get more information about the topic if I want to. No long trip to the library which is probably closed, plus a dramatic optimization of wading through the bad information to find the good.

I use X1 Search to do the same thing on my files/email/attachment on my PC (Its Windblows based, sorry). Sorry to sound like an Advert, but I just love the tool so much and it is related to the topic.

Though, I have to admit, since Google and good PC search/index software like this came around, I find that I modify my thinking in really strange (but really effective ways).

I'll snatch a web page or PDF document, or bash out a quick summary text file, file it away, and then remember things like basic concepts, hello world level details, keywords, etc.. and then PROMPTLY FORGET ABOUT IT and transition to something new. I can use my problem solving and logic skills and completely relax about the facts. Those sink in quickly enough as I progress through a topic, but at the start, I'm there and making progress.

In my mind, its really sort of a phenomenal change in the way human society works and thinks.

You can really fundamentally change the way you work when you've got good desktop search/indexing support. I've been using Scopeware Vision for over a year, then they croaked. I was really lost for a while.

Kind of frightened me a bit for how incompetent I became when I couldn't search my local index quickly...

I got over it 8-), now I use X1 search. Its the "best" one I've found so far. Its extra simple, lightweight, supports sufficient file formats/email clients and functions exactly as advertised.

It works a lot better when you enable indexing.

Or so I'm told. My personal experiences with allowing the Windows Indexing service to run in the background have been that it's more trouble than its worth. Yes, on the rare occasion that it's actually -not- indexing when I search, the search is blazingly fast (compared to a non-indexed search).

Disable the Windows indexing service, thrash the Windows + F thing, and get X1. It'll work on the hard drive occasionally like the Windows indexer, but it's incredibly more fast.

Well, first this idea is part of Microsoft's WinFS plans. The idea with WinFS was partially born when Microsoft developers realized that major parts of the web can be searched faster than a user's hard drive. It will be interesting to see how this application will collide with Microsoft's plans, that's for sure. It's basically fast searches and enhanced metadata support that are the key parts of WinFS, which is in turn a key part of Longhorn.

Second, an indexing software that does the same thing is already available today and worked very well when I tried it out. It's actually almost perfect, except for the fact that it causes occasional hard drive thrashing as it tries to keep the index up-to-date. This is unfortunately a rather major downside, but if you can bear with this, you'll get literally instant file searches on your entire hard drive -- it narrows down the possible matches as you type each letter. It even indexes file contents for small files. I'm talking about X1.

X1 seems to be the most popular one out there.

DiskMeta, they had this project in beta for a while, the Windows product went into relese just last week, the site says

DT Search, I remember their ads in bunch of computer magazines, although have never used them myself.

EFS, found it on download.com, supports MS Office and PDF as well as other formats.

This functionality already exists in stand-alone, third-party apps on MS Windows.

Three of these content-wranglers jump to mind.
http://www.scopeware.com/
http://www.x1.com/
http://www.enfish.com/

Admittedly, they aren't free (as in beer or as in speech) but they would appear to get the job done.

You said Linux should innovate, but these ideas not only have been explored, but commercialized as well.

Google is your friend: clicky.