Google Unveils The Google Pack

7hunderstruck writes "Google yesterday announced the release of Google Pack, a 'free collection of essential software'. Along with Google's own programs, such as Google Toolbar and Google Earth, Google Pack contains Firefox, Adobe Reader, a six month subscription to Norton Antivirus, and Trillian as well as other apps. Any respectable /. user should have most of this suite installed already (excluding a few things), but it will be nice to make it all widely available to the general public." Commentary on ZDNet.

Re:Not Gaim?

[AC-x]

Trillian is included. It's not there by default but they do give you the option here [google.com]

Re:Branded?

[linuxci]

The Google toolbar for firefox only adds a few items that I consider useful, however as this toolbar integrates seamlessly with Firefox toolbar customisation then you can just move the items you need into other areas of the screen and hide the toolbar itself.

e.g. the Google search box on the toolbar incorporates Google suggest, so I've customised the toolbar and removed the Firefox built in search box and replaced it with the Google one.

I also like to see the pagerank of sites that I help develop so I've dragged the pagerank icon to the left of the throbber on the menubar (Linux and Windows) or to the left of the personal toolbar (on Mac) so I can see it at all times. Then I hide the rest of the toolbar.

To customise toolbars simply right click on any area of the toolbars that don't have any other context menu (e.g. reload, stop, home buttons) or select View > Toolbars > Customize.

Google are also offering $1 per download to members of their adsense program who put a link to download Firefox with the Google toolbar on their sites. For Google it is good to encourage use of Firefox as Firefox will not default to MSN search like IE does - and remember what Ballmer wants to do to Google!

Re:Norton?

[donovangn]

I run into this same issue on so many of my clients' computers. I end up removing Norton as it was either expired or somehow broken. At least half the time the damn thing doesn't uninstall. This is such a pervasive issue that Norton had to write a removal (SymNRT [symantec.com]) to clean up where their uninstaller failed. Eventually they should move that tool to this page [symantec.com].

Re:Branded?

[wazo2k]

I'm not sure why google are doing this, unless they're getting paid (in money or some other way) by the producers of the software...

according to the google blog [blogspot.com] they are not getting paid:

We worked with a number of technology companies to identify products that are the best of their type to create this suite. (We didn't pay them, and they aren't paying us.)

Re:Google Pack is only available for WindowsXP

[Tony Hoyle]

I think only certain builds of Windows XP too.

I'm running XP here and it won't let me download it.

Instructions for Annoyed Downloads

[Gamzarme]

Below is a proceedure that will change you life...

1. Click link in article.
2. Below the huge button that says DOWNLOAD GOOGLE PACK there is another link that takes you to a page
3. Use this page to customize your download and use the following: (if you don't already have them..)
4. 
   
   • Google Earth
   • Picasa
   • Google Pack Screensaver
   • Google Desktop
   • Google Toolbar
   • Google Talk
   • Firefox
   • Ad-Aware
   • Adobe Reader
   • and Trillian (and get rid of those other three IM clients!!)
   
   
5. Click the Download Button!!

Anyone can play this game.

[ettlz]

OK, let's see... if I were running XP, I'd install ettlz's Essentials:

Network

• Mozilla Firefox
• Mozilla Thunderbird
• SSH.com's SSH client
• Gaim

Doing Work

• OpenOffice.org
• The GIMP
• Inkscape

Utilities

• 7-zip
• jEdit

Multimedia

• Winamp
• CDex
• aoTuV Vorbis encoder
• Audacity

Security

• ClamAV ClamWin
• Spybot Search & Destroy
• Lavasoft AdAware
• Stern note about limited privilege accounts

Re:ClamWin

[bamf]

PDFCreator isn't really a suitable replacement for Acrobat Reader is it? But why let that spoil your argument.

In addition ClamWin doesn't actually have an on-access virus scanner which makes it somewhat suboptimal.

Re:nortan anti-virus

[Achromatic1978]

It has definitely changed, but that being said, if you're able to, go with Symantec AV Corp Edition... much lower footprint, and less effort and energy spent in useless eye candy and overhead.

Re:Why "XP Only"?

[Echnin]

Wow, it's 2006 now... Heh, that's kinda funny. You're probably aware, but XP did actually come out nearly 5 years ago. Funny how time passes, huh?

Re:Why "XP Only"?

[lukewarmfusion]

"Mainstream Support" was end-of-lifed on 6/30/2005. Now it's one thing to make software that only works with a newer version of an OS, but it's another to put artificial blocks on compatibility.

As a web developer, I don't support older browsers. I do, however, let them load up my sites in whatever they like. As long as users realize that they may not be seeing the same thing or interacting in the same way, they're free to use Netscape 4 or whatever they like.

So if the Age of Empires developers decided that Win2K was a drastic minority with no mainstream support from MS, I can understand them not testing and support their product on 2000. But if the product works fine and users want to try it (unsupported) then they should let 'em do it.

I made the mistake - once - of forcing visitors to my site to use a specific browser. I did a browser detection and showed them a message requiring that they upgrade their browser in order to use the site. The problem with this is that the site worked fine in a lot of browsers that I was too lazy or ignorant to test or support. Eventually I learned the term "gracefully degrade."

Re:ClamWin

[jawz101]

AV-ClamWin, Watchdog (works in conjunctions w/ ClamWin, Foxit PDFreader. But in the scheme of things this is really just a reaction to Microsoft's http://ideas.live.com/ [live.com] Take a look. The OneCare app is an inbound/outbound firewall to replace the built in xp inbound firewall/virus scanner, etc. The http://start.com/ [start.com] - the testing site and http://live.com/ [live.com] - their production site even started using Gadgets http://microsoftgadgets.com/ [microsoftgadgets.com], just as Yahoo bought Konfabulator http://widgets.yahoo.com/ [yahoo.com] & has widgets now. Google just made some more API's available and brought out Google modules http://www.google.com/ig/ [google.com]directory Microsoft is working on a new messenger program, a primitive mapping program (that they've had for a long time), the whole live site is basic white even. Every one is getting the minimalist sites and all-in-one package deals. If you check the big browsers they are all competing for a desktop/browser setup. Personnally, I don't like when my browsers take their crap onto my desktop and make apps out of them. Anything that indexes my desktop seems like a security risk and a definite performance hog. If I wanted gadgets/widgets/modules... well I don't. And I really don't need a toolbar. I'm not surprised this was Google's next step but I try not to download the stuff I don't need. I'm a Windows OS fan but *nix ported apps are the best in my mind.

code.google.com

[diegocgteleline.es]

http://code.google.com/ [google.com]

Re:ClamWin

[Anonymous Coward]

If we want to ignore Adobe's attempts to upsell, then I would simply mention that FoxIt PDF [foxitsoftware.com] was nominated in a different thread as a better replacement for Acrobat Reader.

ClamWin is open source; you or someone else could build that option, if you desire it. I would disable on-access because I find it an unnecessary waste.

Re:Free virus checkers

[Nagus]

I've switched a PC in my family from Antivir to AVG, and am now recommending AVG to anyone that asks.

The first reason is that Antivir has a relatively complicated update method for novice users. When it updates the antivirus database (ie. on startup), it sometimes likes to pop up a window with ads for the commercial version or with user surveys. This scares novice users who don't know what to click, and who then promptly call me for support. However that problem gets much worse when an update of Antivir itself is made - because then it just downloads a Setup.exe and starts it. This leaves the confused user (who has never seen an installer before) in front of a (maximized) InstallShield wizard, wondering how to "get back on the Internets". And quite frankly, even I find that installer a bit confusing.

AVG is much better in this regard: on startup, it checks for updates (to either program or antivirus database). If it finds any, it shows a progress bar while downloading and installing them. Then it shows an "Update Complete" dialog, which will vanish automatically after 30 seconds (unless you click it away before that timeout). Not a single click is required, ever.

The second reason I prefer AVG is that AVG's updates are much faster than Antivir's. Either Antivir has really slow servers, or AVG's updates are drastically smaller. I've had Antivir's update downloader timeout on me, but never AVG's.

To conclude: AVG is hasslefree, which is an essential property if you have to support friend's or family member's PCs.

Re:Let's see...

[damiam]

They have different goals. Picasa is an organization program (similar to iPhoto); it doesn't aim to be Photoshop.

Re:Google Pack is only available for WindowsXP

[loginx]

Yes. This has been around only for a week or so I think...
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_GoogleEarth_w ith_wine [gentoo-wiki.com]

The article is a little gentoo-specific but I'm sure that shouln't be an issue for other distros.

Re:Try running a W2K3 game machine

[Anonymous Coward]

Your a tool.

Pure stupidity. Everyone knows that MS recycles its code endlessly and that with XP they in fact made a deliberate merging of the NT and 9X code bases. Or put another way. There is no real difference between the current windows desktop OS'es. The current wmf shitfest showed that clearly.

This line just goes to show that you have no idea of the history of Windows 9x and NT.

FYI: Windows NT 3.5.1 used a GUI that was somwewhat similar to Windows 3.1. Windows NT 4.0 used a GUI that was VERY similar to Windows 95. Windows 2000 (NT 5.0) continued to use the same GUI. Now, the differences between Windows NT Professional and Server for both v4 and 2000 were minimal. It was a handful of registry changes. Windows 2000 was also the first version that had decent game support and, I felt, a replacement for Win98SE. Windows XP does NOT reuse code from the Win9x line. What happened was a suggested/forced recommendation to game companies to use the Direct X for everything.

Fisher Price aspects of XP

BTW, you can turn off the candy-ass aspects pretty darn easy if you know how to use prefrences. Think something along the lines of 'Classic'.

Re:ClamWin

[jonnythan]

From the Google Blog:

"We worked with a number of technology companies to identify products that are the best of their type to create this suite. (We didn't pay them, and they aren't paying us.)"

Re:Not Gaim?

[chiok]

Both Trillian and Google Talk are there as optional programs.

Re:"Any respectable /. reader"?

[AndreyF]

What are you talking about? Who cares if their "Google pack" is open source? I bet they threw it together in a weekend - it's not that impressive. The contributions Google gives to the OSS community aren't little - check out Google code [google.com] before you talk. The places where it matters - like an open XMPP-based talk infrastructure, Google is the only company to step up. Try building something useful on top of the MSN chat network, and see how fast MS sues you out of the water.

Re:Anyone can play this game.

[hkmwbz]

Regarding BitTorrent, Opera is supposed to support that in the next version. Or you could get the smaller, faster uTorrent [utorrent.com], which is far better than BitComet in my opinion