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Google Desktop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Google Desktop | |
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|
 The GDS Sidebar sits on the user's desktop and displays relevant information. (Google Desktop on Vista) |
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| Developer | |
| Latest release | 5.7.0712.18632 [1] / December 20, 2007 |
| OS | Cross-platform |
| Genre | Desktop search |
| Website | desktop.google.com/ |
Google Desktop is a desktop search software for Mac OS X, Linux and Microsoft Windows. The program allows text search of a user's e-mail, computer files, music, photos, chat, and Web pages viewed, and other "Google Gadgets".
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After initially installing Google Desktop, the software completes a full indexing of all the files mentioned above. After the initial indexing is completed the software continues to index files as needed. Users can start searching for files immediately after installing the program. After performing searches, results can also be returned in an Internet browser on the Google Desktop Home Page much like the results for Google Web searches.
Like other Desktop search programs, Google Desktop indexes all the user's files for efficient searching. This is unlike Windows XP's built-in search function which scans whole files instead of a list. For a better understanding, consider this analogy: If one is trying to find the title of a chapter of a book in a library, Windows XP's search will search through all the books in the library, whereas Google Desktop scans the card catalog — a time-saving process.
As of October 2007, Google Desktop can index several different types of data, including email from Gmail, IBM, Microsoft, Netscape, and Mozilla client apps, web browsing history from Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, office documents in the OpenDocument and Microsoft Office formats, instant messenger transcripts from AOL, Google, MSN, Skype, Tencent QQ, and several multimedia file types. Additional file types can be indexed through the use of plug-ins.[2] Google Desktop allows the user to control which types of data are indexed by the program.
Google Desktop was originally developed to bring Google search technology to the desktop. Google Desktop received much attention because it may allow reverse engineering of Google's proprietary search algorithm.
- Microsoft Windows
- The first release of Google Desktop Search was released as a beta version on October 14, 2004.[3]
- Version 2 was released as a beta version on August 22, 2005. The new feature that distinguishes Desktop 2 from Desktop is the addition of Sidebar, a panel that displays personalized information, which can be placed on either side of the Windows desktop and can display real-time news, e-mail, photos, stocks, and weather, among others. Sidebar includes a search box that can search just the PC or Google's other search types (like Web, Images, News, Groups.) Google Desktop 2 graduated from beta on November 3, 2005. New features include a sidebar plug-in for Google Maps and more plug-in developer support.[4]
- Google Desktop 3 Beta was released on February 9, 2006. It includes support for searching multiple computers on a network.[5] Google Desktop 3 graduated from beta on March 14, 2006. Notable in this version is the quick search box, which appears anywhere on your desktop after pressing "control" twice.[6]
- Google Desktop 4 Beta was released on May 10, 2006. It features Google Gadgets, modules that can deliver an array of information. It also introduces option to automatically remove deleted files from search results.[7] Google Desktop 4 graduated from beta on June 27, 2006.
- Google Desktop 4.5 was released on November 14, 2006, adding a transparency aesthetic to the sidebar and "floating" gadgets. The graphic interface of the sidebar was also enhanced with more stylized icons for news, stocks, weather, photos, etc. Release 4.5 also added support for Windows Vista.
- Mac
- On April 2007, Google released Desktop 1.0 for Mac OS X, which can function alongside the Spotlight search tool in Mac OS X v10.4.[8]
- On November 29, 2007, Google released Desktop v1.4.0.826 beta for Mac OS X[9], which plugs into Dashboard for Gadgets support.
- Linux
- Google released Desktop 1.0 for Linux on June 27, 2007.[10] It currently features the basic functionality of the Windows version but not the sidebar functionality.
Google Desktop features the following functionality (not a complete list):
The main new feature of Google Desktop is the sidebar, for Windows only (although Google is planning on adding this feature to Linux[citation needed]). The side bar consists of several gadgets which display information. The Sidebar comes pre-installed with the following gadgets:
- Email - a panel which lets one view one's Gmail messages.
- Scratch Pad - here one can store random notes; they are saved automatically
- Photos - displays a slideshow of photos from the "My Pictures" folder (address can be changed)
- News - shows the latest headlines from Google News, and how long ago they were written. The News panel is personalized depending on the type of news you read.
- Weather - shows the current weather for a location specified by the user.
- Web Clips - shows recent posts from RSS news feeds.
- Google Talk - If Google Talk is installed, double clicking the window title will dock it to one's sidebar.
When minimized, the sidebar will become either a Deskbar, or a Floating Deskbar, depending on which one was displayed last. The default is a floating Deskbar. To minimize the sidebar, click on the horizontal line in the top-right hand corner of the sidebar. Like the Windows Taskbar, the GDS sidebar can be set to Auto-Hide mode, where it will only appear once the user moves his or her mouse towards the side where it resides. If not on auto-hide, by default the sidebar will always take up about 1/6 - 1/9 of one's screen (depending on screen resolution), and other windows are forced to resized. However, the sidebar can be resized to take less space, and you can disable the "always on top" feature in the options. With the auto-hide feature on, the sidebar temporarily overlaps your maximised window.
Additional gadgets can be downloaded from the Gadgets & Plug-ins[2] gallery, or by clicking "Add Gadgets", which shows a gallery, allowing the user to browse both installed gadgets and the other available gadgets.
All gadgets can be moved and reordered. Several options are also available for some gadgets.
Another feature that comes with the sidebar is alerts. When the Sidebar is minimized (see above) new e-mail and news can be displayed on a pop-up window above your Windows Task Bar. This is configurable via the main sidebar menu, accessible by clicking on the arrow in the top-right of the sidebar.
When searching in the sidebar, deskbar or floating deskbar, Google Desktop displays a "Quick Find" window. This window is filled with 6 (number can be changed) most relevant results from your computer, results which change as you type, so you can get to what you want on your computer without having to open another browser window.
Deskbars are not a new feature to Google Desktop. They are a box which enables one to type in your search query directly from one's desktop. Web results will open in a browser window, and selected computer results will be displayed in the "Quick Find" box (see above). A Deskbar can either be a fixed deskbar, which sits in your Windows Taskbar, or a Floating Deskbar, which one may position anywhere one wants on one's desktop.
A new feature is an add-in for Microsoft Outlook. It enables one to search all of one's Outlook e-mails using Google Desktop's Index, rather than using Outlook's search functions.
A similar plugin has been created for Lotus Notes. It enables one to search all of one's Lotus Notes e-mails using Google Desktop's Index. Only local Lotus Notes databases are indexed for searching.
Desktop gadgets are interactive mini-applications that can be placed anywhere on the user's desktop to show new email, weather, photos and personalized news. Other gadgets include a clock, calendar, scratch pad, todo list and more. You can find gadgets made by Google, as well as third-party ones, at the Gadgets & Plug-ins[2] gallery.
Google offers an SDK for people who wish to write plug-ins for Google Desktop: it's called the Google Desktop SDK[11]. These plug-ins can increase the functionality of the program, such as allowing for indexing of more file types or addition of panels to the sidebar. Besides the main official blog, Inside Google Desktop[12], another blog, Google Desktop APIs blog[13], has been created especially for developers. An automated system creates a developer hierarchy called the Google Desktop Hall of Fame[14], where programmers can advance based on their gadgets' number and popularity.
The SDK also allows third-party applications to make use of the search facilities provided by Google Desktop Search. For example, the file manager Directory Opus offers integrated Google Desktop Search support.
In February 2007, Yair Amit from Watchfire found a series of vulnerabilities[15] in Google Desktop that could allow a malicious individual to achieve not only remote, persistent access to sensitive data, but in some cases full system control as well. The significant impact and the ease of exploitation forced Google to change some of Google Desktop's logic in Google Desktop version 5.
Many privacy and civil liberties groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have concerns that personal information on people's computers could readily be copied from users' hard drives.
Google Desktop V.3 contains certain features that raise serious security and privacy concerns. Specifically, the share across computers feature that introduces the ability to search content from desktop to desktop greatly increases the risk to users' privacy. If Google Desktop V.3 is set to allow Search Across Computers, files on an indexed computer are copied to Google's servers. The potential for information stored on their computers to be accessed by others if they enable this feature of Google Desktop V. 3 on their computers should be seriously considered. The EFF advises against using this feature.[16] Also, those who have confidential data on their work or home computers should not enable this feature. There are privacy laws and company policies that could be violated through the installation of this feature, specifically, SB 1386, HIPAA, FERPA, GLBA and Sarbanes-Oxley.[17]
Other more far reaching concerns arise around the packaging and end user licence agreement - specifically the level of intrusion on the local machine and the disclaimers that users implicitly agree to future changes in the licence agreement without actually being able to yet see them.[18][19]
Although there have been known problems with the GoogleDesktopCrawl.exe process,[20] lately the presence of smart indexing has improved the use of resources so this is less of a problem now. As a default setting, after the user installs the application, files, emails and other data will be indexed at once, in a one-time process. It occurs only when the user's computer is idle for more than 30 seconds and it will usually be complete in several hours. After the one-time indexing, the index is kept up-to-date based on user actions and preferences.
Besides the key combination advertised on the preferences page (hitting Ctrl twice) Google Desktop's Quick Search Box can be launched with a shortcut Alt Gr + g, Alt Gr, however, is the standard key to input diacriticized letters on a QWERTY keyboard, e.g. Ģ/ģ in the Latvian language. Even though it can't be disabled on the preferences page, it can be done through editing the Windows Registry[21].
- ^ What is the latest Google Desktop version number?. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ a b c All Indexing Plugins. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/desktopsearch.html
- ^ http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/desktop-grows-up.html
- ^ http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/new-on-your-desktop.html
- ^ http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/stay-in-ctrl-ctrl.html
- ^ http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/yes-we-are-still-all-about-search.html
- ^ Mike Pinkerton (2007-04-04). Google Desktop for Mac. Official Google Mac Blog. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
- ^ Google (November 28, 2007). "Where can I obtain a list of known issues or release notes?" - "Current Version". Desktop for Mac Help Center. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ Google (2007-06-27). Google Desktop for Linux. Google Desktop for Linux. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ http://desktop.google.com/downloadsdksubmit
- ^ http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/
- ^ http://googledesktopapis.blogspot.com/
- ^ http://desktop.google.com/authors?hl=en
- ^ http://download.watchfire.com/whitepapers/Overtaking-Google-Desktop.pdf
- ^ http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_02.php#004400
- ^ http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044246,39311126,00.htm
- ^ http://rixstep.com/2/20070621,00.shtml Google Desktop Tracked: Terms of Service (Welcome to Google)
- ^ http://rixstep.com/2/20070621,05.shtml Google Desktop Tracked: The Aftermath
- ^ http://desktop.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=12661&topic=215
- ^ http://desktop.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=37219
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| Apple Spotlight · Beagle · Copernic Desktop Search · GNOME Storage · Google Desktop · Strigi · Tracker · Windows Search |  |