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Google Kills Desktop Search and Gadgets

Posted by Unknown on from the ol'-desktop-went-to-google-heaven dept.

CWmike writes with an article in Computerworld about Google axing yet another product. From the article:"Google has decided to retire Desktop, an application it first launched in 2004 that is designed to let people search for files and data stored in their computers' hard drives. It was one of the first products Google aimed against Microsoft and was intended to improve upon the native search functionality found in Windows. Desktop search became an area of competition, as Microsoft responded to the challenge and others such as Yahoo launched their own products. However, Google has decided that, with the popularity of cloud computing and users' increasing comfort with Web apps, the time has come to decommission Desktop, it said in a recent blog post. As of September 14, Google will also end support for Desktop APIs, services, plug-ins and gadgets." From the looks of it the announcement implies that Google Gadgets are getting the axe too, which a few more people might be using.

5 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Time to decommission desktop? by ge7 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Google has decided that, with the popularity of cloud computing and users' increasing comfort with Web apps, the time has come to decommission Desktop

    I really don't like this development. Web apps tend to be really buggy and never really work as required. Either the feel is slow, you accidentally click somewhere or do something that loses all your work and most of the just doesn't feel as good as desktop app. I can't see anyone serious moving from Microsoft Office to Google's web-based offerings. Imagine if you had to do all your real development and coding within some web application. The same goes for games. I rather play real good games than some Farmville shit. I know I don't need to use them, but things like this affect everyone on larger scale. Google is destroying computers.

    1. Re:Time to decommission desktop? by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can't be the only person to think that the real reason is that the built in search features on Windows 7 (and Vista for that matter) are actually pretty good. I personally haven't felt the need to go grab a desktop search tool for windows since indexed searching was baked into the OS.

    2. Re:Time to decommission desktop? by Goody · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Please describe the most complex spreadsheet you've ever done in Google Apps. Please include the number of graphs and pivotables and how many tens or hundreds of meg of data that's in it. Bonus points if you used the solve function. Google apps is like the Fisher Price of office suites.

      --
      Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
  2. AAARGH! by jothar+hillpeople · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The cloud can't replace local storage. A 10mbps cable line is no match for an internal sata drive. And google desktop search is much faster than windows search, and is much better at finding emails than outlook's own search. I have come to rely on this at work, and am loathe to install windows search instead. I would love to see this become open-source.

    1. Re:AAARGH! by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How about a more realistic comparison between an internal SATA drive at around 50 MBps to a fast cable download of around 50 Mbps.

      I have a 50Mbps broadband service, and to suggest that it is even in the same league as a local hard drive is complete nonsense.

      Your hard drive actually delivers 50MB/s uninterrupted. For your internet service to deliver you 50Mbps they actually need the source to be able to send it to you at that rate reliably.

      Even with 50Mbps, you tube still stutters and buffers on a bad day.... despite the content usually being less than 1Mbps.

      Unless your remote hard drive is in your ISPs data center, the comparison is absurd. The internet will be slower, often much slower, and routinely inconsistent.

      Then, the cable is only 8 times slower, and is fast enough for most tasks.

      Even assuming it was simply 1/8th the speed. A file copy that takes 7.5 seconds locally... takes full minute to the cloud. If it takes 7.5 minutes locally... there goes an hour.

      50Mbps... A 3.2GB Quantum fireball hard drive from 1996 does nearly 80Mbps. To get down to 50 we have to go back to when hard drives were measured in megabytes, Windows 3.11 was shiny, and most of us ran DOS and had a 386 or 486 CPU.