"One of the more compelling things to me is it improves your Web searching," said Sullivan. He said he previously had been skeptical of Microsoft's declared intention to offer people a unified searching ability, combining files found on the computer with documents from the Web. "This leaves me feeling that integrated search really is useful," he said.
Google's release of the product ahead of Microsoft poses a problem for the Redmond, Wash., software giant, Sullivan said, because the personal archiving capability likely will grow more valuable to users over time, making it harder to switch to another search engine product: "You may not want to give up that recorded history you have."
While Microsoft has been promising to develop and release a new search product that would make it faster for users to find information on their personal computers, the company has pushed back its timetable. Yesterday, Microsoft officials said they would have a new desktop search tool within a year.
"Our focus is on helping consumers get faster, cleaner and easier access to the information they want, not on what other companies are doing," said Justin Osmer, product manager for Microsoft's MSN division. "We plan to offer desktop search with updates to our existing service within the next year."
Microsoft already offers the Lookout Personal Search Tool, which facilitates searches for millions of computer users who use Microsoft Outlook. But the company does not have a way for computer users to simultaneously search desktop files and information on the Internet.
"Customers want search capabilities that help them access information no matter where it resides, across the Internet, their P.C., the intranet and e-mail," Osmer said. "This is a big challenge. . . . Microsoft and the rest of the industry have only scratched the surface on how search technology can help consumers."
Google's desktop search only works on computers running Windows, specifically Windows XP and Windows 2000, and indexes the full text of only certain documents, including those created in Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs, Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. With other files, such as photographs and music, it simply indexes the names of files.
People who install the desktop software can run Google searches a number of different ways -- looking for files stored only on their computers, for files stored only on the Internet or for a mixture of both.
Google, which makes its money showing ads related to queries, said it plans to show no advertising when users search only for files on their local computers, at least not while the product is in its test or "beta" stage. However, Google will show ads on results pages when someone chooses to see results from both the Web and their computer together, according to Mayer.
The company is proceeding cautiously with regard to privacy, given the uproar over the issue created earlier this year when it introduced a its G-mail product, which placed ads beside e-mails.
Mayer said early testing of the product shows that most people will use it to search the Internet and their personal computers for information simultaneously, which will add to the number of Internet searches done through Google. "As a result, we will serve more Web results pages and more ads, and those ads have more chances of getting clicked on. So there will be incremental Web search revenue from this product," Mayer said.
Once the Google search technology is installed for free on a personal computer, it will transmit basic data daily about usage patterns. For example, it will tell the company how often Google is being used to search personal computers, how often it is used to search the Web, and how often simultaneous searches are done. Google lets users opt out of sending some usage data, but not all of it.
However, Mayer said the data collected will be aggregated so that the company knows where to focus its efforts on upgrading the search technology. She emphasized that the daily up-loading will not transmit any personal information to Google and said it is typical for major software programs that offer voluntary upgrades and fixes for bugs to capture that sort of information as a matter of routine.
"This is the most personal information Google has ever dealt with," Mayer said of the new desktop search technology. "We take user privacy and user trust very seriously. And we have throughout the entire development of this product."
To enable users to maintain the confidentiality of files on their personal computers, or to permit them to keep their Web surfing destinations a secret, the new desktop search tool lets people block it from archiving visits to specific Internet sites, or from accessing private or confidential information stored on a P.C. In addition, there is a 15-minute snooze bar that allows a user to temporarily turn the archiving feature off if, for example, someone wants to do online shopping for a family member or friend and keep it a secret.
Gary Price, a search specialist who runs a Web reference site called ResourceShelf.com, noted that the new archiving capability could raise privacy issues by making it easier for people to search and find material on other people's computers when they step away from their desks. That could be troubling in the workplace where people often leave their desks unattended, he said: "In a couple of minutes, people can search your entire computer and find anything in any one of your documents."
