One of the best inventions on the web are search engines. Not a day goes by without me using them. Or I should say: using “it”. Or even more specific: Google. I literally use Google every day. And in 99 percent of all cases I find what I am looking for. Well, some time ago, Google released Google Desktop (http://desktop.google.com) , which brought the power of Google to your (Windows) computer. Well, they now released version 2.0 that adds a shipload of options and extra’s. I was hooked on version 1.0 but 2.0 is really a huge improvement!
It comes with a very nice sidebar that actually is useful and that isn’t a huge memory hog like all the other Windows Vista ‘wannabee’ sidebars (and believe me: I de-installed a few). Best of all: there is already a huge load of plug-ins that make life even better! I installed the one that indexes my MP3 files and also indexes all filenames in archives like ZIP and RAR files (they are still working on one that actually indexes the contents of zip files; that will make it even more perfect).
One of the best new features is that it now also indexes mail from Mozilla Thunderbird, my default mail program that I use besides my trust Eudora (one of the main reasons I use it is that it is less virus friendly then, lets say Outlook and also because it has a built-in Bayesian spam filter).
But the real killer app might be the Google Desktop Enterprise edition (http://desktop.google.com/enterprise/index.html) that extends the way your office works by making your intranet searchable! Find e-mails and documents on the intranet with just a few keystrokes! I really am going to try and see if I can use it on my work! I already am indexing my documents and PDF files at work. And here is the clincher: it is FREE! Any organisation can now have the full power off Google within their company! It’s awesome and I’m sure that this tool is going to pop-up all over the corporate world.
So, where does this leave the non-Windows users? Well, they are increasingly lucky: Apple has their equivalent to Google Desktop with the excellent built-in tool Spotlight for OS X. It is just as fast and accurate. And now Linux users can benefit from using Beagle (http://beaglewiki.org/Main_Page) which is also flexible and most likely will become another great Google alternative. But then again: maybe Google will come with their own versions for these platforms.
Already I think Google Desktop had made the built-in search of Windows XP really redundant. And I don’t think Windows Vista will change that in the near future.