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Google Desktop 2 Live
An anonymous reader writes "Combining desktop search and the Google Sidebar, Google Desktop 2 is now available for download. Dozens of new third-party sidebar panels are now available, Google said. Also launched was Google Desktop for Enterprise (free)."
Can I insall it vicariously?
Anyone?
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
Breath fresh Google Air (tm) as you drive you your Google (tm) Car will sipping on your Google(tm) latte while... And we are worried about Microsoft?
Will it run on my NetBSD toaster?
I installed the original Desktop search, but since moving computers hadn't bothered to reinstall. I have just installed this new version and it is one very slick little app. I don't usually like giving up screen real-estate but I decided to try the sidebar and so far I'm impressed. I can see a lot I'll be able to use, not least the scratch pad instead of opening up notepad for one-liners. The to-do list is cool too - I know it sounds so simple, but my workload comes from two service desk queues, plus other projects, plus ad-hoc email requests - and I think just jotting down a few tasks to get done today in the morning might help organise things for the day rather than flitting about between tasks all day.
As I said, some simple tools, but helpful, and well organised. As for the desktop search itself, we can now specify network drives to index which is really cool for the dis-organised mess of nested folders that is my corporate drive. Gmail search can't get through my firewall unfortunately. The News search is great, it seems to have figured out my habits from history - I haven't visited any news sites except slashdot since installing and it's already got some new stories from my favourite sites... Plus some seemingly random interesting maps and blogs... no doubt these will cancel out any gains to my productivity made by ease of finding things:)
So all in all, first impression is a good one.
btw, does anyone know a way to create a firefox keyword to search the with this? It seems to need a session id to work, but maybe there's a way round?
// It had been Fat's delusion for years that he could help people. --Philip K. Dick, Valis
I needs my fix already!
Now if google would do something with Natilie Portman.........
It has a couple functions but to call it a desktop is way too early. The question is when will Google stop riding the bear. "Requires Windows XP or Windows 2000 SP 3+".
Wait, are you saying that something Google released is out of beta?
(No I didn't read the article, and I find it amusing that almost nothing from Google ever makes it out of beta)
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, however, there is.
You would think that they would have put up a screenshot of the sidebar where their stock was up rather than down $4.17.
I looked at it, and I don't honestly see what the big deal is.
Installing it forces a reboot under Windows XP Pro.
:(
I thought those days were over.
You never know, Beagle might be usable before Google get their desktop going on Linux. But the Beagle keeps chewing up my memory, so I'm dropping back to using x-friend even though it's not Open Source.
:v)
If anyone has any better alternatives for us Linux bunnies, do tell the world!
Vik
You seem to miss the meaning of "Now Available." They never said "new" in there anywhere.
I've installed every version of google desktop since inception, hoping every time that I'll find use for it. But I never do. It just sits there on my desktop, taking up real estate and looking fugly.
Other than replacing XP's pathetic search feature, it's really alot of nothing.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
Yeah, while I realize you're joking, I actually really like it.
Google probably wouldn't release most of these products at all were it not for the Google labs/beta pages. They've got people writing interesting software which maybe isn't mass marketable but is still neat nonetheless.
Even if the software is really stable, they keep it in beta. They don't have to pay to support it, so they can keep it out there. I like it.
__________________________________________
Take comfort in your ignorance.
Grandmaster Plague
When are people going to understand that Google is a business just like any other?
Being a business, they must focus on the return over their investment, which is much faster achieved when you develop something for the masses. Last time I checked, the masses were running Windows, not Linux or any other open source OS.
And BTW, they WILL do evil if that makes stocks go up!
I agree with a few statements already made this should not be called "desktop" yet. As for the bar itself... him I do believe I've seen this before http://gdesklets.gnomedesktop.org/ or perhaps http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/ gkrellm.html
When I did run gdesklets it was setup with a lot of the same features, quick notes, email, time, weather, calander and the list goes on. Nothing really new except it has goggle branded to it.
Yeah, I have had that problem too and it's been in since beta and version 1. Google's customer support says they're "looking into a resolution for this particular issue". In other words, sorry, no Google Desktop for you.
"Joy is contagious," he said, peering into the microscope.
I don't get this paranoia about Google. Why is it a concern that they have lots of different products? Would you not buy a General Mills cereal because they make several other kinds of foods too? If you don't like Google products, don't install them, nobody forces you. Last time I checked, going to their website was optional, too (and I don't think that's going to change).
I installed the original Google Desktop Search when it first came out. The application was not bad, it just crashed my computer anytime I left it up overnight. After I narrowed the number of folders it indexed the crashes stopped and I now use it alot. I have found it very useful and am not annoyed by the sliver of screen space it takes up on the right side monitor. It seems the newest version is a little more stable and the new maps plugin is nice since I am a map junkie.
The real neat capability is the ability they give you to write plug-ins now in javascript. I have only been playing around a little so far but it seems like Google is trying to turn Javascript into the new VBA! I was very interested in creating a Google Desktop Plug-in before they added the new Javascript programming capabilties, but I was going to need Visual Studio 2003 and navigate through Visual C++.net. In just playing around the Javascript it seems both simple yet powerful enough to get done what I want. The comparison to VBA is not meant to be a put down. Between the Google Maps API and the Sidebar API for Google Desktop I never though I would be using Javascript so much.
They only run on OSs with minimal market penetration, so most people can't run them.
I've always wanted to try out Google's desktop, but running it on wine on my linux box just doesn't convince me enough. Google has been labelling themselves a "Digital Services Infrastructure Company" (Stahlman) and provide a good number of services accessible through a browser. I do understand that facilitating a desktop search requires native access to the platform making a completely browser based solution unsuitable or insecure. However, it would be nice to see Google at least provide a framework or API if not actually write a portable application usable across platforms. Gnome users would probably be banking on beagle performing the same roles and KDE users may have to wait a while before a strong equivalent (Tenor) comes in.
..?)
While it is true that Google doesn't seem to have put a foot wrong yet, I do notice that many of their applications (Picasa et al) seem to be tailored for Microsoft platforms. For the moment this is in line with their attempt in becoming an all-pervasive "digital infrastructure" company. I wonder if many GNU/Linux enthusiasts find it a bit frustrating not to be able to try out these applications (or am I missing a link somewhere
No Greater Friend, No Greater Enemy! (Lucius Cornelius Sulla)
Name me one browser that can search all files, songs, web history, IM conversations, emails, etc on your desktop by typing in a single search word.
Slashdot has an RSS Feed for front page stories. I think they should add a second one for Google stories. It would look something like this:
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Slashdot : Google News, 24/7
http://www.googledot.org
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Google this, Google that, Google Google Google blah blah blah
en-CA
Copyright 2005
Wed, 02 Nov 2005 24:08:49 GMT-07:00
Wed, 02 Nov 2005 24:08:49 GMT-07:00
http://everythinggoogle.com
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
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Google Employees Go To Work
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Today at 9 AM Approximately 2800 Google Employees went to work. 200 called in sick. There was a traffic jam in the parking lot.
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http://fakelink.com/
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http://fakelink.com/
Google
Mon, 31 Oct 2005 24:29:01 GMT-07:00
Google Farts
At 12 PM today, Google Farted. (4500 comments thus far)
http://fakelink.com/
http://fakelink.com/
Google (what else would it be)
Mon, 31 Oct 2005 24:29:01 GMT-07:00
i used gd for a while, but it didn't find nearly as much stuff as X1 (which later became yahoo desktop). for example, it wouldn't index my gaim logs for some reason. i had to install some third party text plugin that ate the cpu like mad.
so i like the way gd works, in general, but i didn't like that it searched so little of my world. Y! desktop, on the other hand, is an ugly app, but man, it finds EVERYTHING.
as far as the sidebar, i just don't get what the fuss is about. y'all should check out konfabulator. it's amazingly cool and works the same on windows and the mac (i use both) and does all the stuff gd's sidebard does and a lot more and in much more open ended manner (transparent float mode is unbelievably useful).
in this age of communication i'm just not getting through
But the major problem for me was that *gasp* the searching wasn't very good. No seriously. Here's why:
In the end I gave up and installed Copernic which is far better. It is most definitely not perfect, for example, it can't just search everything (you have to specify files, emails, contacts etc.), the toolbar search isn't as useful as Google's (you can't just type something and your results start to appear in a menu), the IE and Firefox plugins don't actually search your desktop (only the web) and that there is no integrated search bar for Outlook (I do miss this).
However (and this is the big one), it re-index's far quicker and more often than Google and I can set it to re-index certain things (like my email) once every day which means that my results are always correct.
It wouldn't take much that GDS would need to change for me to revert back because I like the integrated search in Outlook and the toolbar - but the database inaccuracy means that its next to useless for the way I work.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
I wish you were right about Google...
... everything.
More and more all my private life is scanned by google.
Google knows everything about me.
Via gmail they know who are my friends, where I work, what I do,
Via google search history they can even gather more informations, they can even guess when I was in front of my computer.
I don't wanna draw a dark picture, but they are gaining more and more access to our private life. What do they do whith all the data they collect ? Targeting advertisement ?
I really hope they have the best intentions and they only do that !
Because If a I were the CIA investigating somebody, google would be the first place to go to retrieve informations.
yes you can. try syncnotes
Lord of the Binges.
Javascript is a much maligned language that is actually pretty powerful.
I've been toying around with XUL applications on Mozilla and have been learning alot about the power of the language.
I think it's humble beginnings have stereotyped it as a toy, while the reality is that it's extremely powerful and flexible.
The new ECMA 357 spec is pretty interesting, too.