For some time now, most companies have been saying that the next big search product will be desktop search. Who was going to come out with it first and how good was it going to be?
Well HotBot, believe it or not, was one of the first. They had an indexer which could index various files on your computer. You could search via the HotBot toolbar, and results would be displayed in a small pane in your internet browser.
It was cumbersome to set up and frankly, difficult to use. If you had to launch your browser every time you wanted to search your desktop, it becomes too bothersome.
We didn't hear much else on desktop search until Blinkx came along, and we felt that it would be the next big thing in search. Soon after came the Copernic desktop search, and just yesterday AOL announced that it would have their own desktop search, maybe even as soon as this week.
Of course, Microsoft has always said that it would have desktop search built into its next operating system. They have since announced that there will likely be an upgrade or plug-in for Internet Explorer to allow desktop search.
However, we didn't hear much from Yahoo! or Google on desktop search. That is until today. Google has launched its own desktop search (in beta) and it is available on the
beta site.
I have downloaded and installed it (of course) and it seems to be fairly fast at indexing. It only runs when there is idle processor time, so it doesn't tie up your computer for hours.
The FAQ section of the site recommends at least 500 megabytes of free disk space. That seems like a lot to build a simple index, but if it's as fast and accurate as Google is, it may be worth it.
It will organize your emails into conversations (like Gmail) and indexes multiple file formats, such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Outlook and Outlook Express emails, AOL IM conversations and more. Further, the site goes on to say that it will index more content over time.
It will also cache pages viewed in Internet Explorer, and make them searchable as well.
This will be a handy feature. I know I have been to pages in the past and a few days later I say to myself , "now what was that site again." With the new desktop search, I will be able to easily find it.
I have it indexing on my computer now, so I have not had a chance to test its indexing abilities. The index is incomplete, but with the few tests I have done, I am impressed.
When you double click the desktop icon you see the familiar Google homepage, with a twist. This one says Google Desktop.
You search like you normally would, but the results are from the various sources above. You can see emails, cached pages I've recently viewed, and more. You can also sort the results by date, or relevance to the query.
Overall, I would have to say that it is pretty good for a beta product. There are a few features I would like to see, and I am certain that, over time, they will appear, but for now, we have Google's entrance into desktop search.
So, what will Yahoo! do?
Rob Sullivan
Production Manager
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