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Google Desktop API Released
aarbear writes "Airbear Software has just released an API to Google Desktop, a free tool from Google to search your own computer. In short, the API allows access to Google Desktop through the command line. Results are outputted to a file formatted with either XML, CSV, or custom formatting. The API is implemented through Airbear Software's popular Google Desktop add-on, gdSuite, so the API also adds advanced search options to Google Desktop. Google Desktop Search allows you to instantly find emails (from Outlook and Outlook Express), chats (in AOL and AOL Instant Message [AIM]), and web pages you've viewed in Internet Explorer. In addition, you can find any file by filename and can search inside Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files. However, before gdSuite and this API, users could only search from their web browsers."
...before spyware becomes Google Desktop enabled!
Why would Google release a Google Desktop Search for Linux or Mac OS X, when both have applications which already provide an equivalent service? Windows was clearly the best choice because Windows' Indexing service is horrendous, and thus Windows would benefit from such a service.
'Do no evil' is not equivalent to 'Do for those that also do no evil'.
I am not charging for the API because I, as a poor, frugal student, hate having to pay for products and don't want to be a hypocrit by charging for my own. At the same time, however, I don't want to release soure because I want to keep control of my work and who uses it, just like most other freeware developers who don't release source. Also, if I released source, spyware/malware developers could capitolize on it, as other have pointed out.