Jim Lynch: Off the Top of My Head…

Google is making a preemptive strike against Microsoft’s Longhorn by releasing a beta of their desktop search tool.

After downloading Google Desktop Search, you can search your personal items as easily as you search the Internet using Google. Unlike traditional computer search software that updates once a day, Google Desktop Search updates continually for most file types, so that when you receive a new email in Outlook, for example, you can search for it within seconds. The index of searchable information created by Desktop Search is stored on your own computer.

In addition to basic search, Google Desktop Search introduces new ways to access relevant and timely information. When you view a web page in Internet Explorer, Google Desktop Search “caches” or stores its content so that you can later look at that same version of the page, even if its live content has changed or you’re offline. Google Desktop Search organizes email search results into conversations, so that all email messages in the same thread are grouped into a single search result.

More info is available on how it works and screenshots are available here.

I’m disappointed that there’s no version for Mac or Linux but hopefully, at some point, it will be released for operating systems besides Windows. I installed it and it seems to work pretty well. Check it out if it looks like something that might interest you.

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