Google Releases GDS 2.0 789
FansofTech writes "Google (now $4bn richer) has released v2.0 of Google Desktop. Many new features are introduced including improved Outlook filtering, Gmail indexing, and the feature which is most likely to cause the largest stir...a new Sidebar which displays RSS feeds, a Gmail inbox, news, scratch pad and more. Plug-ins for the new Sidebar are also available including a to-do list, clock, and more. As one blogger pointed out this morning...the release of Google Desktop 2.0 is beginning to take shape as a browser in itself as the need for a Firefox or IE is almost eliminated."
I'd hate to burst your bubble... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not really sure who uses Google Desktop; I certainly don't. I had the last version for about a week, and then I got bored with it. This is true for about 90% of the things I find online. Plus, what Google is doing now is starting to be the same thing Microsoft has been doing for the last few years: trying to get their hands into everything.
It's only a matter of time and probable lawsuits before the geek community starts to have a little falling
So Google is making Windows irrelevant. (Score:2)
And most important of all (Score:5, Informative)
Privacy Issues (Score:5, Interesting)
They are now recording click-throughs on their search pages. [boingboing.net] Why do they need this information? It wasn't too long ago that links on google.com went straight to the link... not back through the google servers...
Just remember to clean out your google desktop index history [tech-recipes.com].
Is our privacy now worth more than free software?
(Tin-foil hat mode off)
Re:Privacy Issues (Score:5, Insightful)
Realistic theory: What better way to rank a page's relevancy than by determining which links are chosen by the searchers for a given keyword or set of keywords? This helps eliminate the dross from a search, since you know which of the search results previous searchers found at least interesting enough to click through.
Re:Privacy Issues (Score:4, Interesting)
> bad side effect...
> page 1 & 2 search results will firmly become engrained there by this method as everyone clicks on the top few results normally
That could be a problem if the results fed directly into the page rank. But it would seem more logical to use this to cull bad links from the top 10. If people consistenly ignore the first link for a particular search, but instead click on the second or third links, it would be a good indication that the top link isn't very good and should be moved down the list, which could in turn allow a new link to bubble up to the top 10.
Re:Privacy Issues (Score:4, Informative)
This isn't new, and Yahoo does it also [yahoo.com].
I remember playing with these rewritten links in 2001 for some SEO projects. Back in 1999, many of the links in Google appeared in the status bar as "http://www.google.com/url?url=http%3A//boingboin
This is how the big search engines determine which links are most popular.
The Holy Grail of Direct Marketing is to personalize advertisements efficiently. This is Google's whole business model.
To do this they collect information from the visitors, deposit the information in a huge database, analyze the data and then programatically determine which advertisements will be most effective based on the target audience.
No XP64 (Score:3, Informative)
Bleh! (Score:3, Informative)
Well it's a nice addition to the system but I don't think I'll replace Firefox with it. It'll take awhile for them to port extensions to the Google Desktop thing and even still it's not cross platform.
Re:Bleh! (Score:4, Insightful)
Dashboard (Score:2, Interesting)
Speaking of, widgets seem to be all the rage at the moment. Do they have any standards (other than program APIs), for say, the sake of portibility? Or would that be pointless?
I ask that because there seems to be a lot of duplication of functions (such as local weather) between various applications.
Not useful for me. (Score:2)
This doesn't eliminate web browsers. (Score:2)
Hmm, really? (Score:5, Funny)
Other than that minor, troublesome web-browsing feature presumably?
Google Digital Assistant (Score:4, Funny)
And it should look friendly and reassuring.
Re:Google Digital Assistant (Score:5, Funny)
Not true (Score:2, Funny)
Windows Only? (Score:3, Informative)
I hope some of their new-found wealth goes toward developing some of these nifty tools for other platforms (Fedora? BSD? MAC?)...
v.1.0 (Score:2)
Thunderbird mail! (Score:5, Informative)
Let's see how long... (Score:2)
Maybe obvious.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Cool, but... (Score:2, Troll)
From Google... (Score:2)
Google to the rescue, on a Google story...recursion imminent...
GTRacer
- Hobbes rocks
All your... (Score:2)
-Larry
Google - windows only? (Score:5, Insightful)
If Yahoo! gets serious with Konfabulator, it could provide a similar service, but in a cross-platform manner. Likely? Perhaps not. But Yahoo! seems to be shaking it's past history of Windows-only support and moving towards platform independence, while Google is bringing out more and more Windows-only products (GDS, Accelerator, Earth). Just another reason that Google seems to be losing geek mindshare while Yahoo! is gaining it. Just look at the rising number of comments on slashdot that are questioning Google's benevolence, or supporting Yahoo!'s newfound drive to openness - flawed though slashdot may be, the comments give you a good barometer for the geek world.
Could they... (Score:2)
transmorigying? (Score:2)
Search more than 1 notes database.. (Score:3, Interesting)
The plugin we have will only search one, usually the mail file..
I'd like it to search my 5 archive files also.
Thank you.
The Wrong Direction (Score:4, Insightful)
If you think about it, how many times do you know users who actually use the clock that is displayed on their task bar? I've seen many people at various places I've worked, completely ignore their own PC and look at the clock on the wall. Or, they might even ask someone, "do you know what time it is"? when it's right there in front of them. It's not that they're stupid or that they don't understand what that clock does. It's that they've been OVEREXPOSED to it. This holds true for weather, and headlines as well. Rather than bombarding the user with information, let it agreggate the info in a hidden area with constant updates. Then (much like the Dashboard in Mac OS X) using a special key combo, function key or maybe a clickable area, present the information as a translucent area over the existing desktop. This will then force the user to focus on the new information without being able to interact or be distracted by what is now backgrounded.
My other concern is that by Google designing a full application that rests on top of Windows, they are putting themselves in two unenviable positions:
1. Due to the various interactions between programs from multiple vendors, they may get blamed for system instability if there is a negative interaction with another app that a user has installed. Where I work there is an app that users love that shifts their desktop background randomly and puts a "neat" calendar on their desktop. However, it's blamed for instability frequently. Maybe it is unstable, or maybe it's interacting poorly with another app. Who knows? But that's the problem with utilities that run in the background vs. apps that the user is focused on 100% when running.
2. Microsoft, since they percieve Google to be a threat are very likely going to make this Dekstop thing break. It's happened many times before and you know it will happen again. This tried and true Microsoft Tactic(tm) could result in extra work for the Google programmers who wrote this app.
Finally, they'd be better off designing a replacement shell for Windows if they really want to have a "Google Desktop". They would still be at the mercy of item two above, but item one would apply less since the Google Desktop would now be the shell that the user interacts with all the time. If it's well written, the user should only notice the benefits of an alternative shell to Microsoft's Explorer shell (which is pretty ugly and clunky). If they did this, they might be able to port to other OSes and possibly provide an avenue for people to exit the Windows fold and go with a GNU/Linux/Google Desktop distribution.
re: overexposure (Score:3, Interesting)
But my main issue with toolbars are the fact that by their nature, they're gaudy "OS hacks". In essense, every time you see a "toolbar" on a system, it's a 3rd. party "after the fact" workaround for a perceived lack/failing of the OS itself.
A "system utility", "accessory" or "application", by contrast, would
Re:The Wrong Direction (Score:3, Informative)
In my opinion there is one real case, the DR-DOS / MS-DOS -battle. It's a long story, but as an example: A Microsoft manager wrote this about Win3.1 (to the win3.1 project manager if I recall cor
Is it going to index my Outlook mail on Exchange? (Score:3, Interesting)
If so: is this a good idea? What will my Exchange administrator think about this? What if lots of us start doing this? Exchange servers are notoriously flaky.
I would sure love to have a quick way to search for the butt-covering e-mail that I sent to Finster a year ago.
Versioning (Score:2)
Hotmail (Score:2)
No comments for several minutes? (Score:2)
S
Something for a corporate environment? (Score:5, Informative)
I know Google have some Enterprise level appliances and tools...but we're only 25 people. That doesn't mean we don't generate butt loads of data - just that we can't afford the big kit. Google desktop would be great if it was just a bit more network friendly and configurable, but at the moment it seems targeted strictly for the home user.
I'm hoping that someone will tell me this version will prove me wrong, but I can't see anything to suggest that in the documentation yet...
Re:Something for a corporate environment? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Something for a corporate environment? (Score:4, Informative)
http://desktop.google.com/enterprise/download.htm
Data being passed back to Google? (Score:4, Interesting)
Google Speaks Re: Tagline (Score:2)
A Google reference in a Google story...recursion imminent...
(And what happened to my original post? It never showed up here or in my history. Odd...)
GTracer
- Hobbes rocks
Almost Eliminated? (Score:2)
First they take over the desktop (Score:2, Funny)
Help me out here (Score:2)
Re:Help me out here (Score:5, Informative)
http://desktop.google.com/privacypolicy.html [google.com]
To quote: "Your computer's content is not made accessible through Google Desktop to Google without your explicit permission."
-- Michael Chermside
Integrating with Spotlight? (Score:2, Interesting)
But, but. (Score:2)
Windows only???!! WTF!
How is this a 'desktop'? (Score:2)
.. let alone any more useful than Gdesklets [gnomedesktop.org] or Gkrellm [dslextreme.com]. For one these seem far more customiseable/extensible/useful in that they converge local system state (top) with social state (email/IM) with world state (news/RSS). I guess win32 users are missing out.
Where's the Linux and OSX versions then??? (Score:2)
Google OS (Score:2)
I love how Google doesn't take over by force or monopoly - it just releases products that intice people, and quietly, those products replace the need for other applications which might be considered... you know... competition.
Getting tired of Google's Microsoft Only Policy (Score:2)
Yes, they have the whole "do no evil" thing...
Ok, they run their whole setup on Linux...
Major karma points for the Google SOC project...
BUT, DAMN IT! I WANT GOOGLE EARTH FOR LINUX!
Not to mention, Google Desktop and the whole gamut of their desktop offerings. Someone at Google needs to step up and start making this stuff available to the Free desktops.
!!And to think that Google Earth was made with Qt!!
no comments?? (Score:4, Funny)
Slashdot must be broken, because I know people aren't reading the article
MOD PARENT UP! (Score:3, Interesting)
Cheers
Plugins (Score:2)
Outlook Email = Gmail
Outlook Tasks = Todo Plugin
Outlook Calendar = Clock Plugin?
I for one would love to have my Outlook at work accessible over the web.
Confusing statements (Score:2)
So the need for a web browser is being eliminated by a web browser .
Personally i prefer each of my apps to do a specific task or group of tasks
transmorigying? (Score:2)
For $4bn... (Score:2)
Somewhat off topic, but... (Score:2)
Until this occurs the vast majority of the younger generation will still be stuck in the MS world (at least in Canada, maybe AIM or Yahoo in the US?).
Maybe a highly intuitive integrated VoIP soluti
Linux? (Score:2)
What's an EXE file? (Score:2)
I don't get it. (Score:2)
Now with 50% more privacy invasion! (Score:2)
Still nothing? (Score:2)
Mac version (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mac version (Score:5, Funny)
typical (Score:2)
WTF? Where is Frost Pist? (Score:2, Funny)
I've been hitting the "reload" button every half minute or so on these comments for a looonng time (in slashdot years) and I haven't seen any comments posted as yet? WTF??
I like this (Score:2)
As for google becoming too powerful, nah, you will always have geeks and users, and the geeks will always find away round the nasty stuff. Also maybe a third popular browser would finally fo
Browser replacement? (Score:2)
I haven't tried it yet, but presumably GDS2 just uses the IE engine in the same way all these other Windows apps with a built in browser do?
Browser replacement (Score:2)
It was called Google Desktop "search" .... earlier (Score:2)
Ok. So it still says "Our one trick pony is our search". And still no thunderbird indexing ?. I've been saved by Bloomba once because it indexed my Imap cache of my personal mail.
> a new Sidebar which displays RSS feeds, a Gmail inbox, news, scratch pad and more.
How original .. I wonder if all these were google innovations or just re-acquired tools pushed into one window (like my firefo
Hardly.... (Score:2)
The BBC headline says it all... (Score:2)
They can count me out. I'll stick with 'find' and 'grep' and 'strings'.
Sidebars (Score:3, Insightful)
Please clarify (Score:2)
Mozzila (Score:2)
Hyperbole in full effect (Score:2)
I know it says "almost" but it's more like "not."
You can't actually view webpages with it.
Improvement (Score:2)
Offtopic but interesting to word junkies... (Score:2)
dictionary.com says that's not a word, google says, "did you mean 'transmorgifying'?" and returns lots of results with it spelled that way.
However if you plug "transmorgifying" back into dictionary.com, it is not a word, either! It in turn sugggests "Did you mean transmogrifying?" which is the correct spelling. To me this implies that Google has found more examples of the incorrect spelling than the correct! (Although not as grotesquely misspelled as Hemos' spelli
Windows x64 Edition? (Score:2)
Cool (Score:2)
The other way around. (Score:2)
No, I don't mean running VNC back to my desktop PC, either.
-Charles
Index Sizes? (Score:2)
I quickly deleted GDS after that, the disk space was worth more to me.
Version 2 beta? (Score:2)
Wacky. (Well, on a positive note, they didn't need to change the logo.)
no comments yet? (Score:2)
Eliminated? (Score:2)
A blogger (Score:2)
Well, if a [i]blogger[/i] said it then it must be true.
Eliminated? (Score:2)
It still sits in the middle of your TCP stack (Score:5, Interesting)
Reading over their developer site (http://desktop.google.com/queryapi.html [google.com]), it looks like the engine still listens on the same port the first version did, so I am guessing it still sits in the middle of the Windows TCP/DNS stack so that when you go to the normal Google homepage, you see the desktop search choice, and results from your own desktop. I would rather GDS run as a process that searches my drive, listen on a port for my brower to post a search to, and then dump the results back to a browser window. The page I linked basically describes that, however without installing, I can't tell if they still incorporate themselves into their internet site.
After playing with version 1 last year, I gave http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-searc
Spyware (Score:3, Interesting)
Trust me on this one, boys. You'll be like Mr. Buttle in no more than ten-years time, wondering, "Why'd they get me? I never did anything wrong..."
Google is not cool, Google is not your "friend." Google is the NSA.
It was called Google Desktop "search" .... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok. So it still says "Our one trick pony is our search". And still no thunderbird indexing ?. I've been saved by Bloomba once because it indexed my Imap cache of my personal mail.
> a new Sidebar which displays RSS feeds, a Gmail inbox, news, scratch pad and more.How original .. I wonder if all these were google innovations or just re-acquired tools pushed into one window (like my firefox side-bar which acts as an RSS window, Javascript console and DOM inspector together). And what's a scratch pad, some kind of notepad in a window ?.
> Google Desktop 2.0 is beginning to take shape as a browser in itself as the need for a Firefox or IE is almost eliminated.If it has Gecko or MSHTML inside and is web enabled, the lack of an addressbar does not make it any less of a browser. I slowly see an AOL'ish trend of google to draw customers into their all you need in one window approach which worked so well for AOL for many years. I don't like that kind of lock-in by anybody.
You know why I don't install Google toolbar, web-accelerator or Yahoo ! companions ?. I grew up in a web where everything was addressed and could be accessed by me with almost any capable tool in the market - these guys are trying to dictate tools for me according to their content marketing. They already know which websites I hit (Ads), what I look for (search), what I buy (froogle), whom I mail (gmail) and now they want in on the Desktop too. I don't want them to be the know-all spooks.Re:It was called Google Desktop "search" .... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know why you
How long before... (Score:3, Insightful)
Include a calendar (Score:4, Interesting)
RSS w/o user intervention (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Still useless (Score:5, Informative)
Did you also know that it is possible to change where the "My Documents" virtual folder refers to? I have all of my data on a seperate drive so changed it to point to there.
Right click on the "My Documents" on your desktop and choose properties and you should see the details for changing the location.
Cheers,
Roger
Re:Browser need eliminated? (Score:5, Funny)
It's actually quite hard.Basically, it involves using the so-called "Post Office Protocol", one large hack of an inadequate mess. It's a bitch to set up, and not something I would wish upon anybody. Stay well clear!
If you're the masochistic type,check out these fairly esotoric sites though:
Explanation here [google.com] and more details here [wikipedia.org]
Re:Browser need eliminated? (Score:4, Interesting)
Joking aside, I've had to do that. Very useful (and annoying) when you need to check your email, have no browser around, and you remember that you forgot *again* to enable pop3 in your gmail account.
Isilrion
P.S: Yes, that has happened!
Re:Browser need eliminated? (Score:3, Interesting)
You jest, but it's somewhat true. GMail provides over 2GB of storage now. They promote the idea of storing all your email forever. Why the heck don't they have an IMAP interface?
Re:New MS! (Score:5, Insightful)