Google's Search For Dominance

Nervous in Redmond?

The Wall Street Journal noted that Google's new tool "addresses a chronic consumer headache and extends its reach from the Web to consumers' hard drives. It moves Google more squarely into Microsoft's turf, because the software giant has dominated anything to do with hard-drive-based files and e-mail and plans its own competing product. Desktop Search also could help boost Google's revenue, because the company anticipates the product will increase consumers' use of its ad-supported Web search site."

The Seattle P-I offered this analysis: "Computer users have long complained that using Microsoft Windows to find files on a desktop hard drive is considerably tougher than using Google to find information in the vast reaches of the Internet. Google itself offered a solution Thursday, beating rival Microsoft to market with a free program for quickly searching by keyword through e-mail messages, previously viewed Web pages, archived chat sessions, word-processing documents and other files on Windows PCs. The long-rumored program, called Google Desktop Search, adds a new dimension to Google's competition with Microsoft by further blurring the line between Web-based programs and traditional desktop software, which revolves around the Redmond company's ubiquitous Windows operating system."

They're playing it cool so far at Microsoft HQ, according to The Boston Globe: "Microsoft said it was unconcerned that Google and other companies had beaten it to the punch. 'We believe that Microsoft and the rest of the industry have only scratched the surface on how search technology can help consumers,' said product manager Justin Osmer. 'Our focus is on helping consumers get faster, cleaner and easier access to the information they want, not what other companies are doing.'"

Nuts and Bolts of Google's New Toy

More on how Google's tool compares to the chief competition: "The key to speedy searches is construction of an index of information stored on a computer. Windows XP includes an indexing service, but it slows down the computer while it's running and is often shut off. If that's the case, the hard drive must be scanned for each search -- a time-consuming process because hard drives can hold hundreds of gigabytes of data. Google found a simple answer: index when the computer isn't being used."

The AP also explained more about how the search engine produces results for both the Web and a computer's hard drive: "Once the 400-kilobyte Desktop Search is downloaded and installed, it starts indexing the PC's main drive. The process, which only occurs when the computer is idle for 30 seconds or more, can take anywhere from several hours to a few days, depending on the volume of data. After the drive is scanned, indexing takes place in real time with little effect on computer performance. The index is a database scoured by Google's algorithms whenever terms are entered in Desktop Search. The technology, based on the company's powerful Internet search functions, is the program's secret sauce. Most of the tricks that have worked with Google on the Internet behave the same way with the desktop search. Specific file types -- Excel documents, for instance -- can be searched by entering filetype:excel after the keywords."

The L.A. Times put it most simply: "For instance, a Google query for 'Lakers' will return not only Web pages but also every e-mail, instant message or Word document on the searcher's computer that mentions the basketball team."

USA Today provided more details on how Google's desktop search ticks: "Google.com visitors who have the program installed on their computer will see a 'desktop' tab above the search engine toolbar and all their search results will include a section devoted to the hard drive in addition to the Web. Google, the Internet's most-used search engine, hopes to profit from desktop search by keeping more users at Google and expanding the number of Web searches, where it can display more ads. In addition, after downloading the desktop application ... users track their files within the main Google page -- and many queries will come back with small text ads on the side."
• USA Today: Google Expands Search To Desktop

Ironically, Google relies on Microsoft's Web browser to display results, proving the search wars are resulting in some strange symbiotic software relationships. "The new Google program works through Microsoft's Internet Explorer, letting people search either a computer's hard drive or the Internet via a single Google Desktop interface in the Web browser. People who install the Google Desktop software also will see an abbreviated version of their desktop search results above their Web search results when they make ordinary Google searches," the Seattle P-I reported.

You Have No Privacy, So Get Used to It

Deep in The Boston Globe's article on Google's Desktop Search was this nugget: "Google officials said that no information from a user's hard drive would be relayed over the Internet and that no advertisements would be displayed during a desktop search." Brings to mind the whole privacy flap over Google's Gmail e-mail service...

Technology has trade offs, as today's Washington Post reminds us. Computer advances and other technology wizardry is weakening consumer privacy. Reporter Robert O'Harrow wrote about the trend: "First there were security cameras, sprouting like mushrooms on street corners and buildings. Then came shopper cards, offering discounts in exchange for details about buying habits. In recent years, we've seen the emergence of electronic tags or 'cookies' on the Internet, software that monitors e-mail, GPS devices that pinpoint our position on the planet, and a growing number of machines that capture finger- and face-prints. Now comes the news that federal regulators on Wednesday approved the injection of microchips under the skin, enabling physicians with the right gear to know who someone is without having to ask. And yesterday, the omniscient-seeming search engine Google bested itself by announcing a service to probe for information both online and in your own machine. One company official called it a 'photographic memory for your computer.'"