Google Desktop for Mac

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Google has released a beta of Google Desktop (http://desktop.google.com/en/mac) for the Mac. Google's Mac Blog (http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-desktop-for-mac_04.html) provides some details about the release from Mike Pinkerton.

Google Desktop is a software download that brings Google's search engine to your Mac.

You have lots of information on your computer, and you see a lot more on the web. With Google Desktop, you can quickly and easily find all this stuff right when you need it, including your files, emails, and web pages you've seen.

Pinkerton explains that they took time with the project to deeply integrate it into Mac OS X and to maintain a high standard of usability. Their other goals were to make the desktop search fast and easy to use.

Arstechnica posts (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070403-hands-on-with-the-new-google-desktop-for-mac.html) a first look at the software and describes it as "somewhat slim" compared to the Windows version. However, they expect continuous updates:

The Google team says that it plans to eventually bring all Google Desktop features to the Mac, which they estimate to happen sometime within the next six months. "Now that we have a strong Mac team on Google Desktops, we have the scale to do updates on a much more regular basis," said Pichai. "From now on, there will not be such large gaps between revisions."

Ars describes Google Desktop as "significantly faster" than Apple's own Spotlight and also can integrate GMail and Google Search history content in your searches.

[ibook30]

Nice to see Google make another nod to the Mac community, it feels good to be welcomed by googlezon (http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/)....

I'm very happy with Spotlight, so no plans to download this.

[donlphi]

I want it

[bankshot]

From the web page (http://desktop.google.com/en/mac):
Requires Mac OS 10.4+

Doh. You'd think this would be a killer application for Panther Macs (like the one I'm typing on right now), without Spotlight. Other than Google Desktop supposedly being faster than Spotlight, what does it offer?

[Teh Don Ditty]

It also appears to be an application launcher a la QuickSilver

[ibook30]

actually I just wanted to be the first to post... I don't care about Google desktop

Content before placement....

Doh. You'd think this would be a killer application for Panther Macs (like the one I'm typing on right now), without Spotlight. Other than Google Desktop supposedly being faster than Spotlight, what does it offer?

I agree - I'd consider installing it on my older 10.3 machine without Spotlight - if it works... lemme know if anyone tries it on Panther...

[nagromme]

It also appears to be an application launcher a la QuickSilver

Or Spotlight, with Command-Return. I use that all the time--now that I have a recent/fast Mac. (Not fast enough to be worth that usage on my old G4.)

[twoodcc]

Nice to see Google make another nod to the Mac community, it feels good to be welcomed by googlezon (http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/)....

I'm very happy with Spotlight, so no plans to download this.

i agree....nice that they are doing this....but i don't really need it....:apple:

[tuartboy]

(Not fast enough to be worth that usage on my old G4.)

Agreed. Spotlight on a G4 is quite a dog.

I couldn't imagine a worse timing for this product. This would be killer on 10.3 and older, but requires 10.4. It may be faster than spotlight, but spotlight is getting a huge overhaul with leopard and will likely outshine anything google can come up with by then.

However, as stated before, any attention from google is welcome.

[dornoforpyros]

Although I applaud google's commitment to the mac community (sure it takes a few months, but they always get it out eventually), I've gotta say I'm not comfortable unlocking the door to my hard drive for em.

Nothings free in this world, and the adsense info is soon to follow.

[ortuno2k]

I don't care about Google Desktop for Mac.
I tried it once on my Windoze PC and quickly got rid of it; just didn't appeal, it's junkware, IMO.
As far as an application and search app, Spotlight works fine for my needs.

[Teh Don Ditty]

Or Spotlight, with Command-Return. I use that all the time--now that I have a recent/fast Mac. (Not fast enough to be worth that usage on my old G4.)

Command-Return only opens a finder window where said program or file is. QuickSilver and apparently Google have the ability to launch.

ex: I have QuickSilver installed, I press Command-Enter to invoke it type say Quicktime and press return.

Basically, it subtracts one step. And it's not worth arguing over :p

[evilgEEk]

The integration of Gmail would be nice, but how could it be faster than Spotlight? Spotlight is always instant for me, perhaps a second wait every now and then...

Oh well, back to American Gladiators on ESPN Classic. :D

[quigleybc]

Said

"google desktop could not be installed"

WTF

oh well,

[bmoorhouse]

Command-Return only opens a finder window where said program or file is. QuickSilver and apparently Google have the ability to launch.

ex: I have QuickSilver installed, I press Command-Enter to invoke it type say Quicktime and press return.

Basically, it subtracts one step. And it's not worth arguing over :p

Actually, it is Command-Click that opens a Finder window.

The original poster was correct - Command-Enter will launch programs, or open files for that matter.

So, Quicksilver does not subtract a step - they are the same.

[GregA]

A google desktop search worries me in some way. I think it's because we need a file management system more than a search system... and I'm hoping Apple is doing that with Leopard. I also like the fact that Leopard's spotlight will search the other machines you're networked to, not just your own machine (... or will it only search Leopard servers??).

Apple's search is becoming entwined with smart folders, and those smart folders are used in multiple areas including music playlists, photo albums, even things like podcast "channels" (I have a "tech podcast" smart folder).

While iTunes & the finder have distinctly different styles for finding your data, I suspect this will undergo a revolution of sorts, and searching will be a part of that. Google can't offer that.

ps. Agreed that google desktop for 10.3 would be great for many people
pps. just came out of a migraine, hope the above makes sense.

[SiliconAddict]

Umm wow. Its faster then Spotlight. http://home.comcast.net/~jonnormand/icons/posting.php_files/icon_confused.gif

[GodBless]

pps. just came out of a migraine, hope the above makes sense.If you are drinking diet pop stop. Aspartame causes headaches and brain damage--it's an excitotoxin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxicity).

As for the Google Desktop--well this will probably work really well in combination with Spotlight. If you can't do something with one--try it with the other. Plus both pieces of software will influence each other and searching will advance faster. :)

[GodBless]

Umm wow. Its faster then Spotlight. http://home.comcast.net/~jonnormand/icons/posting.php_files/icon_confused.gifThat's good news! :)

[MacFly123]

Not to diss Google, but that is one of the things I hate about PCs is all the extra CRAP add on software. Ok it may be good, but its just all this little extra junk added on. I want my system clean and clear, thats one of the many things I love about Macs, we have all these cool things built in in a beautiful elegant functional way, so no need for all the extra crap.

[Stridder44]

I don't see the point of this. Leopard's spotlight is totally rewritten, right? Even so, spotlight as it is is instant. I mean MAYBE sometimes there's a 1 second delay. I'm happy thanks.


How about working on Picasa for Mac instead? You know, something that could actually be useful?

[rafrif]

Google Desktop for Windows modifies the TCP/IP stack! I wonder what they do in OSX?

[gwilli]

also can integrate GMail and Google Search history content in your searches.

I might be wrong but.... if you check your gmail through Mail, doesn't spotlight search through your gmail any way?

[gavd]

I might be wrong but.... if you check your gmail through Mail, doesn't spotlight search through your gmail any way?

I don't have gmail so I don't know, but if it does, then I guess the advantage in this is for people who don't pick up their gmail through Mail.app

[x86isslow]

Google Desktop for Windows modifies the TCP/IP stack! I wonder what they do in OSX?

John Gruber answered that today in his post: http://daringfireball.net/2007/04/google_desktop_installer

[Infrared]

"/Library/InputManagers/GoogleModLoader/" :(

Looks like a rat's nest of an install. More info from here:

http://daringfireball.net/2007/04/google_desktop_installer

Cheers

[Eric5h5]

Meh. More companies writing OS X software is a good thing, but I don't see the point of the search thing really. Spotlight is already pretty much instant on my machine, so Google's search can't be faster, plus it would use more resources. Spotlight launches programs just fine without any extra clicking.

--Eric

[Westside guy]

Spotlight is very inconsistent speedwise - sometimes lightning fast, sometimes slug slow (this on a C2D Macbook Pro). If it weren't for Quicksilver, I'd have installed Google Desktop sometime earlier today. :) But as it is, I'll have to give it a try sometime... but it's hard to see how it could beat Quicksilver.

[Snowy_River]

Actually, it is Command-Click that opens a Finder window.

The original poster was correct - Command-Enter will launch programs, or open files for that matter.

So, Quicksilver does not subtract a step - they are the same.

I'm wondering if there's a preference setting somewhere. Cmd-Enter opens a window and highlights the chosen item for me. Simply hitting return launches apps for me. I use Spotlight all the time as a program launcher for my less frequently used programs. It's just easier than navigating to them.

I don't know what all the fuss is about, though, with Google Desktop. If its only selling point is that it runs a little faster than Spotlight (and that it searches Gmail, for those who don't use Mail to retrieve their Gmail), I just don't see it as that tremendous a boon. Of course, I'm sure there are some out there that will happily grab this up and extol it virtues.

I just figured out the Cmd-Enter thing. If you type the name of what you want (or part of it), then press Cmd-Enter, it selects and launches the 'Top Hit', whereas simply hitting enter will open the Spotlight window. Now, if you use the down arrow to highlight the 'Top Hit', then hit enter, it does the same thing as above, whereas Cmd-Enter will open a window of the directory containing the item. For what it's worth...

[mhar4]

Congrats to Google for releasing this. It's far far better than Spotlight. It searches for phrases and gives you an inline preview of the file, ala Google internet search. Spotlight's inability to search for phrases makes it next to useless. It always delivers hundreds or thousands of items with no way to select among them meaningfully. I've always thought Spotlight was a failure and now we have an alternative. Take note, Apple.

[eladekralc]

As someone who uses Gmail, Google docs and calendar as well as reader, this will be a boon. Instant update and is faster than spotlight. Also if you use Google to search on a normal page, it comes up with items on your hard drive, brilliant.

Go Google, with other software coming out for macs from Google this makes for a great way to be productive. I do not need to keep a database anymore just save the article etc to google, especially as Gmail is now unlimited and carries a 10mb email size. This is everything .mac should of been.

Only thing missing that Spotlight has is 'Highlight' item when opening.

Why do I use Google for all the above, because I can use it from where ever I am on any computer, windows, linux or a MAC, as I can not afford a macbook and use a linux laptop I can still use Google products, the Google sync product is excellent. Oh and I can get it on my mobile as well.

Dale
More than happy.

[longofest]

Google Desktop for Windows modifies the TCP/IP stack! I wonder what they do in OSX?

Can you link to an article to back up your claims? I did a search and couldn't find any evidence of Google's program modifying such low-level OS foundations.

EDIT: nevermind.

[bilbo--baggins]

Spotlight does everything I want - and amazingly fast. It can search anything on my hard drives in a fraction of the time that Adobe Reader can search a single pdf document. I find Spotlight simple amazing and a vital part of my computing experience. I'll read more about Google Desktop, but I find it hard to believe it can be better than spotlight.

[mhuk01]

..especially as Gmail is now unlimited and carries a 10mb email size. This is everything .mac should of been.


gmail still isn't unlimited... yet. However it is 3gb which is more than enough for most people! I think google will make it unlimited soon, after all yahoo mail now is.

[madmax_2069]

i like that google paid some attention to Mac user's. but this app is useless. why make something for tiger which is already there. on my Beige G3 in my sig spotlight is almost instant. if i want to find something i use spotlight or the built in google search in safari if its not on my HDD. this is like adding a steering wheel to a car that has one already. they could have came up with something useful.

now i could understand if they made this for jag or panther, but tiger only come on google what was you thinking, this is useless for a Os with these funtions already. this will be my first negative feedback for anything on here.

[Analog Kid]

Although I applaud google's commitment to the mac community (sure it takes a few months, but they always get it out eventually), I've gotta say I'm not comfortable unlocking the door to my hard drive for em.

Nothings free in this world, and the adsense info is soon to follow.
Exactly my concern. I like Google a lot for web searches, but I don't want them anywhere near my personal data that I haven't chosen to publish. Abundant cheap storage leads to databases that never, ever, die.

I give them a lot of credit for trying to be on the right side of privacy so far, but I just think there's an inherent conflict of interest in a company that specializes in massive amounts of automatic data aggregation trying to respect privacy. It can't be done. At some point they're going to cross the line (or at least cross the line that I draw) because they'll sacrifice privacy to either the insatiable beast of convenience or the insatiable beast of corporate growth.

They're far from being evil as a company, but all those good intentions give them a lot of paving material.

[mhar4]

Spotlight does everything I want - and amazingly fast. It can search anything on my hard drives in a fraction of the time that Adobe Reader can search a single pdf document. I find Spotlight simple amazing and a vital part of my computing experience. I'll read more about Google Desktop, but I find it hard to believe it can be better than spotlight.

Believe it.

[Much Ado]

They're far from being evil as a company, but all those good intentions give them a lot of paving material.

This is my biggest concern, and is what fuels my love-hate relationship with them. Their stuff works great and all, but i don't like the idea of every action i take being scanned and filed.

And now my Hard Drive too? :(

The counter-argument is that everything we do these days is probrably monitored anyway.

MA.

[imageforce]

okay good to hear that google develops mac software but who needs this?
i mean who cares if its faster? spotlight is fast enough for me...

we are apple users, we don`t want to load our mac with ******** and small apps like there are thousands for pc...

so google desktop for mac tiger! - in my opinion - is very stupid and the most useless thing i`ve heard in the last few months...

best regards,
tommy

i`d like to see google earth for mac... maybe there is one i dunno... ´`ll tak look :)

[PYR0M310N]

I'm somewhat disappointed as it can't index me external HDD (which is a mybook). As most of my stuff is on there this kind of renders google desktop usless to me

[Michael Hyatt]

This software is not ready for prime time. I installed it yesterday and it began indexing my hard drive. Three times it caused my Mac to abruptly shut down. It gave me no warning—just a big ugly crash. I finally had to uninstall it.

I was doing this on a MacBook Pro with 10.4.9 installed.

[sishaw]

It's pretty slick & quick. The main reason it interests me, personally, is that it includes my Gmail and Google search history.

I don't see this as a Spotlight vs. Google shootout--clearly, this is a tool some will find useful and others won't, but it's nice that it's now available for Mac OS.

[rafrif]

Can you link to an article to back up your claims? I did a search and couldn't find any evidence of Google's program modifying such low-level OS foundations.

EDIT: nevermind.

Just in case someone else wants to know:

http://wiki.commerce.net/wiki/Fluffy_Bunny_Burrows_Into_WinSock

[localoid]

I'm somewhat disappointed as it can't index me external HDD (which is a mybook). As most of my stuff is on there this kind of renders google desktop usless to me

According to Google Desktop help (http://desktop.google.com/support/mac/bin/answer.py?answer=63315&query=indexing+hard+drives&topic=&type=):

When you install Google Desktop, it automatically starts indexing the contents of your internal hard drive. If you want Google Desktop to index any other hard drives, such as external drives or flash drives, please follow these steps:

1. Go to the Apple menu > "System Preferences" > "Google Desktop" > "Indexing."
2. In the list of disk volumes, select the checkbox to "enable indexing for any additional volumes."

Please Note: Google Desktop only indexes volumes that use the Mac OS X standard file system (HFS+).

[TC2COOL]

I've downloaded and started using the Desktop just to search gmail.

Someone might be able to tell me how to fix this, but gmail and Mail seem incompatable. All my sent mail ends up in my inbox regardless of my rules (I suppose they are wrong). So, anything that can search my gmail account makes me happier.

[alFR]

Yeah, I'd love to install an app that, to quote John Gruber, "installs an input manager hack in the local domain Library folder" and "injects code into every Cocoa application you launch" and doesn't explicitly ask me to allow that at install. Thanks google, but keep your hands off my software, OK?

[FFTT]

I would definitely want to know more about this software before trying it.

Google makes their money off of advertising.

I'm certainly not cool with having my usage patterns monitored and sold to other companies.

The downfall of MS Windows was that they deliberately allowed spyware
so that they could market user tracking to other companies.

Google needs to be very clear about protection of personal user content

and frankly, I'm fine with Spotlight.

[sishaw]

As a test, I had Google Desktop search for my last message in this forum...popped right up! Now that can save some time compared to going through the front door.

[glennyboiwpg]

I might be wrong but.... if you check your gmail through Mail, doesn't spotlight search through your gmail any way?

How do you configure mail to allow you to check your gmail???

I've always wanted to know that...

[pale9]

did you ever read the google desktop eula? it is insane! among many other worrisome things they reserrve the right to store information of whats on your computer on their system and the right to data mine that. why not sell your soul to the devil while you're at it?

[cyberone]

spotlight doesnt index everything - hope google does, will use it for sure as i'm using every available google product & idea.

[syklee26]

do people actually use spotlight? maybe it's just me but i never have to search for files. you need to organize your works, mon.

[iBlue]

do people actually use spotlight? maybe it's just me but i never have to search for files. you need to organize your works, mon.

god yes. It's dead easy and very quick. I can't always remember where I've put things and sometimes I'm just too lazy to bother. I dig spotlight.

[gavd]

do people actually use spotlight? maybe it's just me but i never have to search for files. you need to organize your works, mon.

I tend to agree with you on this. I very rarely use Spotlight so I'm not interested in Google Desktop.

[Digitalclips]

Nice to see Google make another nod to the Mac community, it feels good to be welcomed by googlezon (http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/)....

I'm very happy with Spotlight, so no plans to download this.

I agree Google is a great company but this seems, for me at least, unnecessary (kind of like Norton on a Mac). Especially as Leopard is probably going to improve Spotlight further.

I have one major problem with Spotlight (maybe some one will inform me of the solution I have missed thus far) ... but I wish it had a built in option to wait till I had finished typing my query instead of rushing off immediately with the first few letters. I have very large drives and there is quite a delay before it lets me type more and then it starts again (I have Privacy set for all but my two internal drives). I want to be ably to type my query in its entirety and then say ... GO!

I get round this with Text Edit and I type the query then copy and paste into Spotlight.

OK... now tell me I am an idiot and what I have missed ... :)

[zwida]

I agree Google is a great company but this seems, for me at least, unnecessary (kind of like Norton on a Mac). Especially as Leopard is probably going to improve Spotlight further.

I have one major problem with Spotlight (maybe some one will inform me of the solution I have missed thus far) ... but I wish it had a built in option to wait till I had finished typing my query instead of rushing off immediately with the first few letters. I have very large drives and there is quite a delay before it lets me type more and then it starts again (I have Privacy set for all but my two internal drives). I want to be ably to type my query in its entirety and then say ... GO!

I get round this with Text Edit and I type the query then copy and paste into Spotlight.

OK... now tell me I am an idiot and what I have missed ... :)

That drives me batty. I mutter about this issue pretty much every day. Your workaround is a good one though. I'll have to give that a shot.

[zwida]

How do you configure mail to allow you to check your gmail???

I've always wanted to know that...

Instructions are tucked away on the settings page in gmail, but here they are:

1. Enable POP in your Gmail account.
2. Open Apple Mail.
3. Click 'Mail,' and select 'Preferences...'
4. Open the 'Accounts' tab, and click the plus sign (+) along the bottom to add a new account.
5. Enter 'pop.gmail.com' in the 'Incoming Mail Server:' field.
6. Enter your Gmail username (including '@gmail.com') in the 'User Name:' field.
7. Enter your Gmail password in the 'Password:' field.
8. Select 'Add Server...' from the pop-up labeled 'Outgoing Mail Server,' and enter 'smtp.gmail.com' in the 'Outgoing Mail Server:' field.
9. Enter '587' in the 'Server port:' field.
10. Check the box next to 'Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).'
11. Select 'Password' next to 'Authentication:' and enter your Gmail username (including '@gmail.com) and Gmail password.
Click 'OK.'
12. Click 'Advanced' and check the box next to 'Use SSL.' (The port changes to '995.')

[sishaw]

do people actually use spotlight? maybe it's just me but i never have to search for files. you need to organize your works, mon.

Everyone has different work habits. Some of us have way too much data on our computers to efficiently find it just through file organization. Some of us may want to search for a string across many different files. Some of us may forget exactly where we stashed a document a year or two ago. It just depends. OTOH, some of us may organize their work so that Spotlight/Google are not important.

I see way too many comments on this board where people extrapolate their personal experience and work habits to the community at large. It's solipsism.

[trellus]

I love Spotlight, but it's dog-slow on my G4 Mac Mini as compared to how INSTANT Google Desktop is on my Dell Laptop, and my Dell Laptop is only about a year newer than my Mac Mini.

I will definitely be trying it out and comparing.

I am a big fan of both Apple and Google, in any case.

I do think, as others have said, that Leopard's new Spotlight functionality has a good chance of overshadowing Google Desktop on the Mac, so I wonder if Google will continue its development on the Mac for long after Leopard is released.

However, if Apple does not significantly improve the speed of Spotlight in Leopard, I can see myself going with Google Desktop.

[trellus]

Spotlight does everything I want - and amazingly fast. It can search anything on my hard drives in a fraction of the time that Adobe Reader can search a single pdf document. I find Spotlight simple amazing and a vital part of my computing experience. I'll read more about Google Desktop, but I find it hard to believe it can be better than spotlight.

Well, I definitely don't find Spotlight to be "amazingly" fast, but I can see how you'd think that if you're comparing against Adobe Reader searching a single PDF document. I, on the other hand, used Google Desktop on the PC before I got my Mac with Tiger, and I was used to INSTANT (and I do mean INSTANT) results with Google Desktop and so I get a little impatient with Spotlight often. :) However, I still find it extraordinarily useful and I'm glad the OS has it built-in as I use it pretty frequently.

[edguzman]

The integration of Gmail would be nice, but how could it be faster than Spotlight? Spotlight is always instant for me, perhaps a second wait every now and then...

Oh well, back to American Gladiators on ESPN Classic. :D

On my G4 Its very fast and it does integrate with Gmail. This is WAY BETTER THAN SPOTLIGHT!!

[ctango]

Oh well, back to American Gladiators on ESPN Classic. :D


They have American Gladiators on ESPN Classic! Sweet!

Oh yea, Google Desktop.

Google Desktop seems to be like the Sherlock of old. Combining a search of the internet, your email (gMail and Mail, etc), and your local hard drive. The benefit is viewing previously viewed web pages (don't know if it works yet cause I'm still waiting for the index to finish). Also, the index appears to slow down my Mac far more than Spotlight's index did (iMac G5 2.1 Gz *yes I know it's not the official abbreviation for Gigahertz, but I like it better).

chris

[rezatayebi]

when i was trying to download google desktop for mac something strange happend. "This product is not available in your country". wow! it seems like im not allowed to download it beacuse i live in iran. it is not fair.
keep your stupid google desktop. im happy with spotlight anyway.

[3D-Troll]

After Google Desktop was released we got an email not to install it, because of it exposing sensitive information. Don't imagine that this has changed. So it does not go onto my machine. Hardly have to use Spotlight anyway.

Steffen

[jwa276]

if spotlight were actually fast, I would probably use it.

I have no desire to install google desktop because I've already integrated quicksilver with my workflow, and it is absolutely perfect (just a little difficult to figure out at first).

I like google, and if I didn't already have quicksilver I would give it a try. Spotlight's indexing must not work or something. Why on earth does it take SOOO long just to type a friggin' query??? It is such a dog and so clumpy & annoying.

I love the icon though :)

[alfismoney]

Nobody seems to have asked important questions about Google Desktop, namely what is this going to do to storage space on primary disk? I already sacrifice about 10% of my storage capacity for a feature I never use (Spotlight) so it can index my disks and make my theoretical searches fast. Does Google integrate with Apple's indexed database or does it build an entirely new schema based around their own technology? I would imagine they build a new one, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Kazeon boxes using Google for indexing do so at a 1:4 ratio and I've heard numbers of up to 20% storage consumption for Google Desktop on PC. Let's say, hypothetically, that Google plays nice and uses up the same 10% of my disk that Spotlight does. On a formatted 120 gig laptop drive, like I just installed, I get about 110 gigs of usable space. Knock off 20% for overhead and then install my 30 gigs worth of apps and libraries and I'm down to about 60 gigs of drive capacity before I even put a single piece of personal data on my computer. Thanks for the search features, folks, but I want my 20 gigs of disk back so I can at least mirror my ipod without buying 250 gig notebook drive. I'll stick to using my normal folders, continue to not save duplicate files, and leave overengineered features to people who actually want them.

[Keerock]

I installed it and my machine ground to a halt. Even after disabling indexing in the pref pane, the Google Desktop Daemon was sucking up 97% of my CPU. :(

Just uninstalled and I'm back to normal... phew!

Addition: Also after uninstall, Google Updater uninstalled itself along with GD.. strange.

[BevvyB]

Just installed it on my G5
And it's great
Yes it's quicker than spotlight
And more useful
And it checks all my gmail as I ditched mailapp well over a year ago
So goodbye spotlight
And yes I do have a lot of files
Some people will love this
I'm one of them

[clevin]

when i was trying to download google desktop for mac something strange happend. "This product is not available in your country". wow! it seems like im not allowed to download it beacuse i live in iran. it is not fair.
keep your stupid google desktop. im happy with spotlight anyway.

Im sorry, its insane.

Just installed it on my G5
And it's great
Yes it's quicker than spotlight
And more useful
And it checks all my gmail as I ditched mailapp well over a year ago
So goodbye spotlight
And yes I do have a lot of files
Some people will love this
I'm one of them
Im glad, me too, spotlight is slow, QS auto removes what I typed when I m thinking next letter... and never be able to catch my aMule....

[HyperZboy]

spotlight doesnt index everything - hope google does, will use it for sure as i'm using every available google product & idea.

I already deleted my copy of this. It seemed to work, but I found the constant indexing to be a total drag on my 1.6GHz G5 (and this was after it had finished the initial indexing). I use too many different files/folders for this thing to keep up with me I guess. Maybe if I had a faster Mac, I'd consider it again but I just didn't like the feeling that I'd just downgraded my G5 to a slower Mac after installing this. I also didn't like the hit on my HD space either. Sorry google.

[Howmanoid]

It's nice that G! is sharing the love and all but this looks like a it was written by a but on folks who look at the world through a PCs eyes. I for one don't need any more junk to sit in the back ground and slow down OS X. I'm happy with the tools that are already in the OS to do search and they don't call home and tell big brother what I've got on my drives (do they?)..

Thanks G! but no thanks.

[guzhogi]

They have American Gladiators on ESPN Classic! Sweet!

Oh yea, Google Desktop.

Google Desktop seems to be like the Sherlock of old. Combining a search of the internet, your email (gMail and Mail, etc), and your local hard drive. The benefit is viewing previously viewed web pages (don't know if it works yet cause I'm still waiting for the index to finish). Also, the index appears to slow down my Mac far more than Spotlight's index did (iMac G5 2.1 Gz *yes I know it's not the official abbreviation for Gigahertz, but I like it better).

chris

Being able to search the internet at the same time seems like a good idea. I'm fine w/ Spotlight, though. Don't forget you can download Spotlight plugins so you can look for specific types of files (Word documents, Keynote, whatever). While not available for every file type, they be useful. Only thing I wish Spotlight had was Boolean operators, especially if you can nest/group them. Examples:
-(chimpanzees AND gorillas) OR orangutans
-chimpanzees AND (gorillas OR orangutans)

This way, if you forget the exact wordings you used, this'll help. Nested and grouped booleans help should someone need to do so (can't think of any examples now).

[pizzacake]

I agree Google is a great company but this seems, for me at least, unnecessary (kind of like Norton on a Mac). Especially as Leopard is probably going to improve Spotlight further.

I have one major problem with Spotlight (maybe some one will inform me of the solution I have missed thus far) ... but I wish it had a built in option to wait till I had finished typing my query instead of rushing off immediately with the first few letters. I have very large drives and there is quite a delay before it lets me type more and then it starts again (I have Privacy set for all but my two internal drives). I want to be ably to type my query in its entirety and then say ... GO!

I get round this with Text Edit and I type the query then copy and paste into Spotlight.

OK... now tell me I am an idiot and what I have missed ... :)

Try Butler http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=butler ctrl-option-apple-space brings up a tiny floating window. Type your query in and it passes the query to spotlight.

Btw, I'm on G4 PPC Mac Mini and I find spotlight to be really fast, only when operating for the first time after logging in is it slow thereafter it flies for me. Maybe because I have 1GB ram. I have loads of pdfs, documents and have tried Google desktop, Copernic, Microsoft and loads of other search tools on the PC. They all took forever to index my documents however the first time Spotlight indexed my hard drives I was gobsmacked, what took ~36hrs to index on 3Ghz PC only took a few hours with a 1.25Ghz G4 Mac & Spotlight!

[clevin]

It's nice that G! is sharing the love and all but this looks like a it was written by a but on folks who look at the world through a PCs eyes. I for one don't need any more junk to sit in the back ground and slow down OS X. I'm happy with the tools that are already in the OS to do search and they don't call home and tell big brother what I've got on my drives (do they?)..

Thanks G! but no thanks.

slow down OSX? may i ask, did u try it?

[Sunrunner]

All this program ever was was a Spotlight clone for windows with a few bits of Google service interface fun. For Mac (especially with 10.5 on the horizon), its about the equivilent of adding a second stereo into your car... not very useful.

[kerpow]

All this program ever was was a Spotlight clone for windows with a few bits of Google service interface fun. For Mac (especially with 10.5 on the horizon), its about the equivilent of adding a second stereo into your car... not very useful.

http://forumimages.footballguys.com/style_emoticons/default/pigskinp.gif

It was even a copy of widgets as well.

Its still better than the search built into Vista :)

[clevin]

All this program ever was was a Spotlight clone for windows with a few bits of Google service interface fun. For Mac (especially with 10.5 on the horizon), its about the equivilent of adding a second stereo into your car... not very useful.

not exactly, GDS on windows has a nice sidebar and other extra functions.

also, GDS was first released beta in 2004, while spotlight show up in Tiger in 2005. (Note, Google didn't invent DS, my bet is on copernic)

also, Linux has a DS called "Beagle"

[Howmanoid]

slow down OSX? may i ask, did u try it?

Yup. And I'm not the only one in this thread who saw my Mac crawl as a result. If it's not slowing your machine, then that's great but my Mac if now free of it.

[pianoman]

downloaded with no problems (no slowing or any other apparent issues) but it just seems useless when coupled with spotlight and quicksilver. i use QS for almost everything and when i need Spotlight, it's there. there are no advantages to using Google Desktop versus QS or Spotlight, IMO. i uninstalled it within 10 minutes of downloading.

[clevin]

downloaded with no problems (no slowing or any other apparent issues) but it just seems useless when coupled with spotlight and quicksilver. i use QS for almost everything and when i need Spotlight, it's there. there are no advantages to using Google Desktop versus QS or Spotlight, IMO. i uninstalled it within 10 minutes of downloading.
10 minutes, lol, I guess the indexing wasn't finished yet. its not a good way to try new things.

[evilgEEk]

I'm surprised there are so many people in this thread saying their Spotlight searches are slow. Spotlight on my dual 2.0Ghz G5 is instant, and I have a total of 360 gigs of hard drive space indexed.

I'm confused as to why it's so fast for me and so slow for others.

[clevin]

I'm surprised there are so many people in this thread saying their Spotlight searches are slow. Spotlight on my dual 2.0Ghz G5 is instant, and I have a total of 360 gigs of hard drive space indexed.

I'm confused as to why it's so fast for me and so slow for others.
well, maybe some users do not have as much RAM as u do, spotlight@512MB need 1~1.5second to show UI,

I got 2G RAM, it takes 1 second from typing to show result. I don't think its slow, but GDS is obviously faster.

[Jiebke]

A while back I've read that Google would make some more apps for Apple (look at the applications in the iPhone). Could it be that Google is making a beta for the desktop search that would be integrated into Leopard instead of spotlight? It may look strang but Google has all the knowledge about search engines, so why wouldn't Apple take advantage of it?

[clevin]

A while back I've read that Google would make some more apps for Apple (look at the applications in the iPhone). Could it be that Google is making a beta for the desktop search that would be integrated into Leopard instead of spotlight? It may look strang but Google has all the knowledge about search engines, so why wouldn't Apple take advantage of it?

errr. bold idea, maybe Apple will have to pay Google for something it thinks it can do itself?

[pianoman]

10 minutes, lol, I guess the indexing wasn't finished yet. its not a good way to try new things.

the indexing was complete. i don't have too much on my MBP: only 24 of 80GB used (for reference, Spotlight indexing takes about 7 minutes).

i just didn't like the app. it seems unnecessary to me when i can get by perfectly fine with Spotlight and QS. when i first got my Mac, i heard about QS and i thought "i don't need that." now that i have it i can't imagine how i would get by without it. google desktop did not create that impression; although, i'll admit i was skepitcal at first and quick to judge. to each his own.

[kji]

Installed GDS yesterday, and it pisses me off...


When I highlight some words and right click, there's an option to add it to the Google Calendar.

My browser is Omni web, and I haven't used Google Calendar in more than a year.

So, I guess this is part of the code that's added to every Cocoa app running?

I dunno, but I wasn't even asked if I wanted this. :mad:


Also, GMail search doesn't seem to work when the computer is offline.

I mean, I can search my e-mails, but can't read?

So I guess this means my e-mails aren't actually downloaded into my HDD, just a meta database file for it...

Am I doing something wrong here?

I mean, doesn't this completely defeat the purpose if I can SEARCH my mails off-line but can't actually read them???

:confused: :confused:

[zap2]

Too little too late...most to late. Had this come out with 10.3, maybe I would have kepted using it even with spotlight, but spotlight is great. I love it, and see no reason to change.

[reubs]

I'll stick w/ Quicksilver and Spotlight.

Thanks, though, Google.

[mergatroidal]

Since 2001 I've used Puma (10.1.5) on a G3 366MHz, 320MB, clamshell to do research and write a book manuscript. I've recently acquired a G4 PowerBook 667MHz, 512MB, Titanium (with 10.1.5 installed) to finish polishing the 'script with, and after six years on the clamshell, two weeks with the PowerBook I went and got Tiger for the G4. I could not wait for Leopard's arrival.

I now must admit that before I only "liked" but now I truly love the beast. What a step up from Puma to Tiger. The G4 is sweeter and faster in most apps (Pages is faster than Appleworks though my 16 MB of video is less than Pages recommended 32MB of video RAM) but function is all that matters. Word processing is all that matters to me.

Spotlight is better than Sherlock; Spotlight is ideal ... for my needs. I don't "need" Google's Desktop though Google's Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) is interesting enough to have me check it out, especially now that I got Tiger roaming around the World Wide Web with me ...

Someday ..., Mergatroid will live!

[wavelayer]

So far I like it. It's not completely done indexing but I like the interface and it's pretty quick. I like the command command quick load feature and the large type.
:cool:

[Analog Kid]

well, maybe some users do not have as much RAM as u do, spotlight@512MB need 1~1.5second to show UI,

I got 2G RAM, it takes 1 second from typing to show result. I don't think its slow, but GDS is obviously faster.
It's more than a RAM issue-- I've got 3GB and spotlight isn't as "instant" for me as people here are suggesting. Is "1 second from typing to show result" an exaggeration, or is it really that fast for some people?

I'm guessing it's a function of file count and index size. I'm not unhappy with Spotlights performance by any stretch, but I'm not getting 1 second results...

[clevin]

It's more than a RAM issue-- I've got 3GB and spotlight isn't as "instant" for me as people here are suggesting. Is "1 second from typing to show result" an exaggeration, or is it really that fast for some people?

I'm guessing it's a function of file count and index size. I'm not unhappy with Spotlights performance by any stretch, but I'm not getting 1 second results...

Lol, i consider 1sec to be slow, and u think its fast? sign, i feel like GDS is perfect for you now, its very fast, "0.1 second"

[iomar]

One thing I hate about spotlight is I can't search in my server drives. Here at work all of our files are located in the server so spot light is useless for me. I am still waiting for something better.

[Analog Kid]

when i was trying to download google desktop for mac something strange happend. "This product is not available in your country". wow! it seems like im not allowed to download it beacuse i live in iran. it is not fair.
keep your stupid google desktop. im happy with spotlight anyway.
Export restrictions to Iran are pretty tight, but I'm kind of surprised that they would allow OS X but prevent GDS (not that these things ever make a whole lot of sense). Is it possible the Iranian government has forbidden Google from indexing every hard drive in their country? That would seem a perfectly logical step to me...

Either way, I was kinda psyched to see that MR has representation from Iran now! Welcome! Does MR have a map anywhere showing what countries are represented here?

[mrrory]

It's great that google are remembering the Mac, but I have no need for this. The beauty of the mac is not needing to download numerous pieces of third party software to make it work like a mac. :)

[clevin]

It's great that google are remembering the Mac, but I have no need for this. The beauty of the mac is not needing to download numerous pieces of third party software to make it work like a mac. :)

:D like not be able to play Xvid/DivX/Real/WMV video? :D 3rd party softwares should be always welcomed.

[ethernet76]

Not to diss Google, but that is one of the things I hate about PCs is all the extra CRAP add on software. Ok it may be good, but its just all this little extra junk added on. I want my system clean and clear, thats one of the many things I love about Macs, we have all these cool things built in in a beautiful elegant functional way, so no need for all the extra crap.

Please. As opposed to Dashboard, or all the other things Apple integrates into their system? It's extra crap anyway you look at it. You're just favoring Apple over Google.

I used Google desktop on my 675 P3. It was still faster than spotlight. In fact spotlight is pretty slow for what it does.

[nplima]

hi!

since there's so many people who agree that desktop search is competently built-in OS X, I'd invite everyone to use this URL: http://desktop.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact=1
to suggest that GDS should be released for Linux. thanks.

[ethernet76]

It's great that google are remembering the Mac, but I have no need for this. The beauty of the mac is not needing to download numerous pieces of third party software to make it work like a mac. :)

You mean like VLC, Firefox, Fetch, Flip4Mac, Toast?

Work like a Mac means elegantly and without hassle, for me.

[ethernet76]

It's more than a RAM issue-- I've got 3GB and spotlight isn't as "instant" for me as people here are suggesting. Is "1 second from typing to show result" an exaggeration, or is it really that fast for some people?

I'm guessing it's a function of file count and index size. I'm not unhappy with Spotlights performance by any stretch, but I'm not getting 1 second results...

You should be unhappy. I've worked with databases thousands of entries in size. I just did a search for Brett, a friends name, and 23 entries came up. Results took 3-4 seconds on 2.0 CD with 1 gig of ram. A dual processor P2 233 with a 15 gig scsi drive can push results across a 100mbit lan in less than 2 secs.

[treydot]

Am I right to think that somehow Google will be able to data-mine my computer's search indexes? Am I being a bit paranoid?

[wavelayer]

Now when I go to google.com there is a "desktop" option. Maybe I'm missing something, but Google Desktop is real nice in my opinion. Fast too. It's a very welcome addition to Spotlight.

[shen]

now i am curious as to what makes things speed up and slow down in spotlight. i have an intel duo mini and every search i can think of i have tried and i get less than a second to search both the external and internal. i only have 512 ram and that makes me want to cry cause i really need more for many other things. so what is making it different for others? :confused:

[clevin]

now i am curious as to what makes things speed up and slow down in spotlight. i have an intel duo mini and every search i can think of i have tried and i get less than a second to search both the external and internal. i only have 512 ram and that makes me want to cry cause i really need more for many other things. so what is making it different for others? :confused:

with your experience, I begin to wonder too, it looks like spotlight behave in a strange way....

[MacsomJRR]

Just downloaded it to show my support to google mac related items... pretty cool but nothing new (see Spotlight and Quiksilver comments)... I like the presentation and it is very very quick so far... still indexing though and probably will be doing so for awhile... I'll play around with it for another couple of days to see if it sticks but more than likely this will eventually go the way of the widget.

[Cult Follower]

I personall like the ease of use and intergration of Spotlight.

[MacFly123]

Please. As opposed to Dashboard, or all the other things Apple integrates into their system? It's extra crap anyway you look at it. You're just favoring Apple over Google.

I used Google desktop on my 675 P3. It was still faster than spotlight. In fact spotlight is pretty slow for what it does.

Ok the difference is, Dashboard is a VERY useful addition that has changed the way applications are implemented, as you can see how many people have ripped off that idea now. Anybody that dares to call Dashboard crap really needs to learn human computer interaction. And second, I don't know what you people are doing with your Spotlight, but I just checked mine to make sure I'm not exaggerating, and my Spotlight LITERALLY gives me results in LESS that one second. How can you be faster than that?

[pale9]

Am I right to think that somehow Google will be able to data-mine my computer's search indexes? Am I being a bit paranoid?

thats what i wrote about in my post on page 2 or so. they reserve the right to do prracically anywhing with your data!

[mergatroidal]

after downloading Google's Desktop, working with it for several minutes, what it does is show me files I have on the internet, and Spotlight doesn't show this. Keywords in duplicate, backup files on other servers (in Curpertino) are included with my computer file results.

My life on the computer is simple, and G's Desktop is redundant. Spotlight is sufficient. I uninstalled Quicksilver for the redundancy of it all too. NASA may actually need quadruple backup computer systems on their spaceships, but I don't.

Alas, ... :cool:

... someday, Mergatroid will live ...!

[RayCon]

While Google Desktop MAY be faster at searching (and, I emphasize MAY), it is slow as all get-out when it comes to indexing my hard drive. I installed Google Desktop yesterday, and after several hours, it had indexed a whopping 15,000+ files. Over 18 hours later, and it's now up to 17,000+ files. In addition to this incredibly slow indexing, it slowed my entire system down to a crawl. Yninstalling fixed the problem. Spotlight works fine. I think I'll stay with it.

2 GHz iMac Intel Core Duo w/2 GB RAM

[shadowx]

I have always been a huge fan of Google... but I have always hated Google Desktop. I continue to refuse to put it on my Windows PC's and will never even think about putting it on my Mac. Picasa, on the other hand, needs a Mac release... it's better than iPhoto.

[Master Atrus]

Okay ... someone help me out. I can run two or three different searches in Google Desktop before Spotlight even does one. What am i doing wrong?

[Master Atrus]

Well I guess I'll try reindexing Spotlight and see if that works.

[localoid]

George Orwell just called. He wants his paranoia back. :rolleyes:

[rezatayebi]

Export restrictions to Iran are pretty tight, but I'm kind of surprised that they would allow OS X but prevent GDS (not that these things ever make a whole lot of sense). Is it possible the Iranian government has forbidden Google from indexing every hard drive in their country? That would seem a perfectly logical step to me...

Either way, I was kinda psyched to see that MR has representation from Iran now! Welcome! Does MR have a map anywhere showing what countries are represented here?

google has prevented google desktop from iran not iranian goverment. we sent a letter to google. hope it works.
and while there are more than a million mac users in iran, our country is out of MR`s map!

[tuartboy]

George Orwell just called. He wants his paranoia back. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't really laugh about that. Data mining is a serious concern these days and the concept of letting a Big Brother seeing every file you have and everything you do is not something I think anyone should treat lightly. While one may be perfectly innocent and have nothing to hide, there is still a huge potential for harm. I personally have had dialogue with a regional VP of systems for Kroger and have seen the type of information and profiling they can do with just what you purchase on your Kroger card. It really is amazing.

Spiderman may have cheapened this phrase, but with great power comes great responsibility. I will not give my personal, financial, and business documents to a corporation thats only accountability is to its stockholders. I do not think that is unreasonable.

[shen]

Okay ... someone help me out. I can run two or three different searches in Google Desktop before Spotlight even does one. What am i doing wrong?

i am really starting to wonder myself. i have 3 macs in the house, and the intel mini and the eMac are lightning fast on spotlight, but i just tried my wife's G4 iBook and spotlight is dog slow on it. i have a lot more files on the other 2 and the eMac and iBook have the same RAM while the mini has the least, so i am not seeing a pattern here yet.

anyone else have any ideas? :confused:

i will try to reindex her iBook later maybe and see if it responds.

[localoid]

I wouldn't really laugh about that. Data mining is a serious concern these days and the concept of letting a Big Brother seeing every file you have and everything you do is not something I think anyone should treat lightly. While one may be perfectly innocent and have nothing to hide, there is still a huge potential for harm. I personally have had dialogue with a regional VP of systems for Kroger and have seen the type of information and profiling they can do with just what you purchase on your Kroger card. It really is amazing.

Spiderman may have cheapened this phrase, but with great power comes great responsibility. I will not give my personal, financial, and business documents to a corporation thats only accountability is to its stockholders. I do not think that is unreasonable.

Trust me. You want privacy? Cut your cord to the 'Net because your IP# activity could be tracked by a zillion people daily. And unless you're wiping your hard drive every day any court can read through its contents via a court order. Just keep in mind that Leonardo da Vinci wrote his private notes backwards for good reason. :p

But, worrying about Google Desktop is much ado about nothing. ;)

[hircus]

"/Library/InputManagers/GoogleModLoader/" :(

Looks like a rat's nest of an install. More info from here:

http://daringfireball.net/2007/04/google_desktop_installer

Cheers

Thanks for that! I'm a bit concerned that it's using InputManagers... uh, with Leopard coming out Real Soon Now, won't they have to do a rewrite since InputManagers will be banned?

[chris.niziolek]

Congrats to Google for reinventing the spotlight!!!

Google desktop is kind of stupid and doesn't serve much purpose.

[hircus]

google has prevented google desktop from iran not iranian goverment. we sent a letter to google. hope it works.
and while there are more than a million mac users in iran, our country is out of MR`s map!

Wow, that is quite a lot! Assuming a 5% market share (which is on the high side) that equates to 20 million computer users, out of 70 million in the population.

[sumifxi]

Spotlight is presently very limited in terms of search flexibility and ranking results.
Google offers queries with multiple words, sentence match using double quotes etc. But most importantly, Google sorts by relevance and shows the context in which the query occurs in the retrieved documents. This really helps a lot, sometimes with spotlight you search a keyword and get back 100s of hits in pdf files but you don't really know where is the one you want.
Also, Google seems much more responsive.
I do hope Leopard version of Spotlight will adopt the above features.

Only problem, with Google desktop, indexing in my system seems to restart every time I reboot (why?)

[localoid]

...Only problem, with Google desktop, indexing in my system seems to restart every time I reboot (why?)

Probably best to ask that question here... (http://groups.google.com/group/google-mac-desktop/topics) ;)

[localoid]

Thanks for that! I'm a bit concerned that it's using InputManagers... uh, with Leopard coming out Real Soon Now, won't they have to do a rewrite since InputManagers will be banned?

It's probably safe to assume that Google already has a working Leopard ver. of their Desktop that they're testing. The pre-release ver. of Leopard has been available to developers for some time, and quite likely Google could get their question answered by Apple.

Google + Apple... working on "secret stuff"... together... remember? ;)

[aussie_geek]

do people actually use spotlight? maybe it's just me but i never have to search for files. you need to organize your works, mon.

i use it all the time. i haven't bothered organising my files since tiger was implemented. it's easy. all documents are saved and go into the documents folder :p . no folders!!

when you have to open a file, you first remember the topic right? then you have to go to your documents folder, go to the sub folder and then search thru that folder yeh? with spotlight you just remember the topic or some of its contents - even a few words in it and it does the rest. my documents folder has over 3000 unfiled, disorganised documents in there. i always find it in a flash - faster than doing all of the steps that you would do.


aussie_geek

[aussie_geek]

Probably best to ask that question here... (http://groups.google.com/group/google-mac-desktop/topics) ;)

ouch - just had a little read thru that article. g desktop indexes your computer for days on end and stuffs around with your mac's permissions.

some users are having a hard time removing it also.... my macs will steer clear of google's latest creation.

aussie_geek

[localoid]

ouch - just had a little read thru that article. g desktop indexes your computer for days on end and stuffs around with your mac's permissions.

some users are having a hard time removing it also.... my macs will steer clear of google's latest creation.

aussie_geek

Google Desktop indexed 40-50,000 files here in a few hours... no file permission problems experienced or detected. Indexing is on-going, unless you turn it off (which you can easily do). It uses your Spotlight preferences for searches, so you can filter what is or isn't searched.

Since I can now use exact phrase searches within files, plus search my browser's history and my gmail account I'm not really interested in seeing if I can uninstall it. :p

[weg]

Umm wow. Its faster then Spotlight. http://home.comcast.net/~jonnormand/icons/posting.php_files/icon_confused.gif

Yup.. on my 1.5GHz PPC Powerbook, it's actually several seconds faster than Spotlight... I'm totally blown away - not using Spotlight anymore.