Google Updates Desktop Search
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Revamped Google Desktop improves security, adds preview and 'sidebar.'
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Reports that Google is planning a Mac version of its Desktop Search tool, recently released in beta for Windows, are not entirely accurate, according to publisher Tim O&#39;Reilly.
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Google has released Google Desktop Search, which enables users to search their desktop computers using the same technology as Google&#39;s online-search tool.
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Google plans to release a version of its desktop search tool for computers that run Apple Computer&#39;s Mac operating system, Google&#39;s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said Friday.
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Google unveils its first desktop application for searching through personal files on the PC and through a person's Web history.
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Yahoo has announced that it will release a desktop search product after the New Year, putting the search engine firmly in the desktop search race that Google kicked off earlier this year and that other major search engines have already declared that they
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(InfoWorld) - Google has released a new version of its desktop search tool, adding a preview feature to help find information more quickly and making some improvements to the interface design. The update, Google Desktop Version 5, also has some new security features to fight phishing and other online attacks. Its release comes after security researchersÂ reported some security holesÂ in the search tool last month. Google Desktop is a free tool that indexes the content on a PC, including e-mail, text documents and Web pages visited, and makes it available for searching. It also includes "gadgets," or small applications that sit on the desktop and display news headlines, a calendar, a to-do list and other information. MicrosoftÂ and Yahoo offer competing tools, here and here. A search in Google Desktop produces a list of results, including the file name and a snippet of the text. Several results can sometimes look similar, so Google has added a preview tool in version 5 that can show the contents of a file without having to launch the application it was created with, it said. The update also aims to fight phishing and malicious code hidden in Web sites. If a user clicks on a Web link in an email or other document, the new Google Desktop will alert the user if it thinks the Web site is going to try to steal information or download malicious code. Version 5 also updates the sidebar, a vertical control panel on the left of the screen. It can now "sample" the color of wallpaper on a PC and change its color to blend in, Google said. It also updates the appearance of the gadgets to make them easier to sort through and view. The new version, which is still in beta like a lot of other Google software, was announced Tuesday in the Google Desktop Blog. Google Desktop has come under fire from security researchers in recent weeks. In February, researchers at Watchfire said they'd found a flaw that could allow attackers to read files or run unauthorized software on systems running Google Desktop.Â Google patched the flaw, but the researchers said the software could be vulnerable to similar threats in the future. They reported a second flaw later in the month, and Google began investigating it. Google is also trying to enter the broader desktop productivity market. Last month it launched a suite of Web-based software called Google Apps Premier Edition, which analysts say could become a competitor to Microsoft Office. Â
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Google has finally announced Google Desktop Search, a search application that enables users to search their email, files, web history, and chats.
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INTERNET giant Google has taken its searching tools one step further with a service for individual desktops. Its new desktop search application means users can search their email, files, web history, and chats
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If you use shared or public computers, you have a new privacy risk to consider: Google Desktop Search. Announced last week and currently available in a beta version, Google Desktop Search allows you to scour
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Blog: Reuters reports that the software maker will change the operating system to address concerns from Google over desktop search.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will make changes to its desktop search program following aÂ complaint to the U.S. Department of JusticeÂ (DOJ) by Google. Google suggested in a white paper submitted to the DOJ earlier this year that Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system puts other search software companies at a disadvantage, making it difficult for users to utilize non-Microsoft desktop-search software. Microsoft has reached an agreement with the DOJ to make it easier for end users to employ desktop search programs made by rival software developers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Microsoft will also provide more documentation and information to developers about how to make those search programs run smoothly, it said. The changes will be included in Microsoft's firstÂ Vista update, called Service Pack 1, slated to be released later this year, the report said. California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Microsoft had agreed to make the "significant changes" in Vista operating system to stay in compliance with a U.S. court agreement in Microsoft's antitrust case. Brown's office intervened in the wake of reports that Microsoft's new operating system included a desktop search function called "Instant Search" that violated terms of its agreement to open its products to more competition. Google, which offers the most popular search engine on the Internet, said "Instant Search" is a "Microsoft middleware product," which is subject to the federal agreement in the antitrust case. The State of California contended that Vistaâs desktop search feature is a functionality that did not exist in prior Windows operating systems and is therefore covered under the agreement. Brown said Microsoft will provide users and computer manufacturers, such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell, with greater flexibility to choose and access competing desktop search products. The agreement was included in a joint status report that was filed Wednesday with federal District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., who presided over the 2002 agreement in the case. "This agreement -- while not perfect -- is a positive step towards greater competition in the software industry," said Brown. "It will enhance the ability of consumers to select the desktop search tool of their choice." "Microsoft believes that Google's complaint is without merit," Microsoft's lawyers wrote in the status report. "Nevertheless, Microsoft worked with the Plaintiffs in a spirit of cooperation to resolve any issues the complaint may raise." Google said the search changes are welcome but more needs to be done. "Microsoft's current approach to Vista desktop search clearly violates the consent decree and limits consumer choice," said David Drummond, Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer. "These remedies are a step in the right direction, but they should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers." Microsoft was found to be operating an illegal monopoly in software by another U.S. District Judge in Washington. Microsoft entered into a settlement agreement with the federal government and attorneys general for several U.S. states to abide by certain rules to allow more competition. Microsoft had originally denied that its own desktop search interfered with non-Microsoft indexing software, noting that its search indexing could be turned off, although with some difficulty. The Redmond company also seemed to have the DOJ, its former antitrust foe, on its side: Thomas O. Barnett, now the DOJ's top-ranking antitrust official,Â recommended that the DOJ and state attorneys general rejectÂ Google's complaint, according to a New York Times report earlier this month. As part of the desktop search agreement, software vendors will be able to register their products as alternatives for the Vista search. The default search selected by the computer user or OEM will launch whenever Vista launches a search result window, and the default search will have space in Vista's start menu. Microsoft will also tell software vendors and OEMs that the desktop search index in Vista is designed to run in the background and "cede precedence over computing resources to any other software product, including third-party search products," the DOJ said in its portion of the status report. "Microsoft will emphasize that there is no technical reason why OEMs and end-users cannot, if they choose to, install additional desktop search products on their systems." The plaintiffs in the case, including 17 states that sued Microsoft for antitrust, are "collectively satisfied that this agreement will resolve any issues" in the Google complaint, the DOJ said. Elsewhere in the status report, the DOJ said a technical committee overseeing Microsoft's compliance has hired two consulting firms to check Microsoft's procedures for identifying communications protocols that it is required to disclose to independent software vendors who want to make their products interoperable with Microsoft's. In March, Microsoft and the plaintiffs reached an agreement to address concerns over the belated discovery of protocols that plaintiffs believed needed to be disclosed. The technical committee will extend a royalty-free program for software vendors to receive the protocols, the DOJ said. The royalty-free program will continue 18 months after the date the committee decides the protocol documentation is substantially complete, and the technical committee can extend the program if it believe Microsoft isn't making progress on the documentation, the DOJ said. But Microsoft is on schedule with a plan to fix technical documentation used by other software vendors, the DOJ said. Errors in the technical documentation have prompted repeated complaints from the antitrust plaintiffs in recent months, but the DOJ said Microsoft has been able "to keep up with the flow of new technical documentation issues." This story was updated on June 20, 2007
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Google Inc. made a much anticipated move toward what many consider the newest frontier in the digital information search sector by announcing Thursday it is offering a test version of an application designed to let users search for information stored on their desktop computers.
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I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Googleâs new Desktop Search program works great on a hard disk full of old e-mails and downloaded Web pages.
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Google Inc. GOOG.O plans to  release a version of its desktop search tool for computers  running on the Mac operating system from Apple Computer Inc.  AAPL.O, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday.
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Google released a new Google Desktop Search tool today that allows people to scan their computers for information in the same way they use Google to search the web. Its ease of use, plus how it enhances the Google search experience, make it a compelling product to use.
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Google Desktop for Mac has been updated adding support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, among many other changes.