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.

Source?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the fucking source code, Google?!

XP only

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Wheres the mention that it's XP only in the article text? I personally feel this is rather an important fact in not wasting people's time on stuff they can't use.

Not Gaim?

[SWroclawski]

Google hired the main Gaim developer, and they don't ship it as part of the Google Pack?

Despite the article- I don't see Trillian listed in on the article page. If they ship Trillian and not Gaim, that'd be even more strange.

Norton?

[Jesus IS the Devil]

Why did Google choose to include Norton? I've found Norton AV to be the most worthless antivirus software I've ever used. It has consistently let me down in terms of protecting my computer. I've even tested it against a known virus. A rival AV was able to catch it. Norton wasn't.

A couple of times I was hit by a trojan by simply going to a web page. Next thing you know, my system gets infected, and Norton shuts down completely and won't start back up again. That's what you call protection? No thanks.

Avast

[NaNO2x]

I myself would sugest Avast [avast.com], I've never had an issue with it. Though I haven't used AVG for years it could have changed, back then it wasn't looking to good.

Let's see...

[CharonX]

Google Earth is more of a "fun" program. Nice to toy around once in a while, but nothing I have always installed.
Picasa is nifty. A free image editor is always nice.
Google Pack Screensaver Don't really care about that one. I usually blank my screen.
Google Desktop I don't use since I have "order in my chaos"(tm) and don't really like to things hooked into everything.
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer will be a godsend for all IE unsers, but I don't need it since I do Firefox.

Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar guess this will make Firefox's markedshare do another jump.
Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition - personally I use AntiVirus Personal Editon [free-av.de], its free and quite good, but if I think about all the PCs without any up-to-date protection out there its a real godsend.
Ad-Aware SE Personal 4236 programs found? If you have used IE, not used a virusscanner and/or have a "shiny, let's click it" PC user this thing will cleanse your system. Otherwise once every 3 months is sufficient.
Adobe Reader 7 A no-brainer, one of the most portable formats around (let's see how Open Document spreads), .doc eat your heart out.

Free virus checkers

[AC-x]

Going a bit of topic here but what's peoples opinions of AntiVir? Seems fine myself but everyone else seems to use AVG

Why "XP Only"?

[Chelloveck]

System Requirements
- Windows XP

I think there is a disconnect somewhere... ;-)

This is a bad trend. All of the software (with the possible exception of Norton AV, which I've never used) runs just fine on Win2k. Why the XP restriction? This is twice in one week I've run up against an arbitrary won't-install-on-2000 roadblock. (The first was trying to install Age of Empires III, which actually runs just fine on 2000 if you can manage to trick the installer.) It looks like the days of Win2k are numbered, not because it can't run the software but simply because the software refuses to install. I really hate artificial limitations.

forgetting something?

[know1]

"Any respectable /. user should have most of this suite installed already (excluding a few things)"
well i installed nothing from it as i'm on of the "respectable /. user(s)" running linux on my main box. Seriously google, port some of this amazing software to the operating system that gave so much to you on the back end while you were starting up - all for free

ClamWin

[Anonymous Coward]

For their XP userbase, they should have included ClamWin [sourceforge.net] instead.

But, ClamWin is unlikely to pay Google for distribution like Symantec.
Ditto with Spybot [safer-networking.de] vis-a-vis LavaSoft.
Et PDFCreator [sourceforge.net] v. Adobe.

Google Philosophy

[ignavusincognitus]

2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.

This is a quote from the official "Google Philosophy" [google.com] page. Oh well.

2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.

Google does search. With one of the world's largest research groups focused exclusively on solving search problems, we know what we do well, and how we could do it better. Through continued iteration on difficult problems, we've been able to solve complex issues and provide continuous improvements to a service already considered the best on the web at making finding information a fast and seamless experience for millions of users. Our dedication to improving search has also allowed us to apply what we've learned to new products, including Gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Maps. As we continue to build new products* while making search better, our hope is to bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas, and to help users access and use even more of the ever-expanding information in their lives.

since when does Google Earth run on linux ?

[Ernest]

Any respectable /. user should have most of this suite installed already
Who is that guy writing about ?
Any respectable /. user I know would run only Open Source Software
and would have nothing to do with anything needing a virus checker.

Re:Let's see...

[keraneuology]

Picasa is nice, but doesn't hold a candle to the free paint.net [wsu.edu] - the most powerful non-GIMP free image editor I've seen that is amazingly easy to use and intuitive - IIRC you can even extend it with plugins (not that many out (yet?)).

Re:forgetting something?

[Junta]

Sounds all nice and good, but when you stop to think about it, they weren't helped so much by the desktop aspects of linux, but server side aspects. In that line of reasoning, how much testing, bug reports, and fixes have they provided back to the kernel and relevant untilities to them? I honestly have no idea, but the areas in which Google would be 'paying back' their benefit of linux is in places very mundane and boring to the linux desktop market, and therefore for a great deal of users so low profile as to appear ungrateful despite efforts they may be making to really bolster the enterprise-capable aspects of Linux.

My bet is that they have made significant QA and development contributions back, simply because any large scale user of any technology contributes QA back, and if an open technology and they have technical skills available, they will be impatient enough to make progress in fixing it themselves.

All this aside, if nothing else consider the marketing leverage Google provides by advocates being able to point at google as a successful extremely large deployment of Linux. Not so significant nowadays since Linux is taken seriously, but when Google first started deploying with Linux, a great deal of the market still considered it unproven, and moves like Google's served to help convince skeptical would-be users that there is value and maturity in the Linux platform.

Good Work Google

[l33tlamer]

From http://pack.google.com/ [google.com], this seems to be true AFAIK for many PC users:

- Essential: Enjoy safe, useful software for your computer
- Simple: Download and install everything in just a few clicks
- Customizable: Choose only the software you want
- Up to date: Get updates and new software via Google Updater

For the average user, who generally uses Windows, this is pretty sweet. No fuss, easy to use pack of "tools" that are easy to use and keep up-do-date. Sure, one can argue about having non-open source software in the pack, choice of Anti-virus software and so on. But, to the average PC user, all he or she cares about is having easy to use, maintainable software.

Forced auto updates

[Anonymous Coward]

From the eula:

"By installing the Software, you agree to automatically request and receive Updates."

Foxit

[El_Muerte_TDS]

You can keep your Adobe (Acrobat) Reader. Way to heavy.
I've been using Foxit Reader [foxitsoftware.com] for a while now and it just works and it is fast.

Besides... the name is just great with one of the other tools in the Google pack: Firefox and Foxit ;)
Now we just needs a Foxbar, Deskfox, Fox-aware, Foxasa, Anti-fox (hmm, that doesn't sound good), Planetfox, Foxsaver.

Hmmmmm...

[Mister Mudge]

I notice there's no Mozilla Thunderbird in the Pack.

Google wouldn't want to cut in on their own GMail market, ehh?

Re:Google Pack is only available for WindowsXP

[drcagn]

I think you're correct. I'm running Windows XP x64 Professional Coroporate and it tells me I need Windows XP.

Re:Not Gaim?

[mgs_X75]

"Google hired the main Gaim developer, and they don't ship it as part of the Google Pack?"

well, thats because google doesnt care too much about open source but is just smarter than most other traditional it companies and they see the tremendous - yet largely unstructured and very loosely connected - economic powers of the open source community. once those os communities work more focussed, structured and interlinked be assured others will also try to become "friends" with them.

google a true friend of open source? dont think so. 400 times 4500$ for the summer of code is some money and it has some benefits for the open source development in general. but, first, compare this prize money to the millions that they paid this ms guy. second and more important, google gets to know 400 bright people and can approach/hire them when they are students - not necessary to pay millions to hire them from a competitor at a later stage. this certainly is worth the 400 times 4500.

google is good for open source? in the long run...dont think so. they take lead developers (read: directly weaken the os community) from ff and gaim and hire them to work for google. what makes open source a success? its the bright people/developers behind it. take that and open source is left with some volunteers and good intentions, but not much more.

can one blame them? no. its a company as any other company and has the same goals. google is just smarter and with an excellent marketing and pr department.

should one be thankful for google? im defenitely thankful for their search technology but im certainly not thankful for their business model/strategy. hooking up with open source is the smartest thing they can do in terms of costs and benefits. plus, in taking lead developers they seriously weaken the further open source development in exchange for pocketmoney. something, i think, a true open source member should hardly be thankful for.

google giving?

[notanotheridiot]

what about google summer of code?

Speaking as a Computer Science student with many friends who took part in Summer of Code, I think that they really did give something to Open Source - although admittedly it was, financially, absolute peanuts to google.

Actually, i think this is a huge step forward - google as a company is hugely trusted: if google promotes firefox like this, then it can only be a good thing. Maybe this will be the final push needed to make firefox the de-facto mainstream browser!

Re:Not Gaim?

[zr-rifle]

Most importantly, why Trillian and not GTalk?

Re:Anyone can play this game.

[Anonymous Coward]

About OpenOffice.org.
According to this [battellemedia.com]:

I spoke to Marissa Mayer about Pack, and she had some fun stuff to say about it. I noticed no version of Open Office in the Pack, and she reminded me this is just the first version of the Pack, and since it updates itself automatically, why, there might be Open Office in an update shortly. They are in active discussions, I was told.

Re:Foxit

[IamTheRealMike]

Hell yes, I'll take the opportunity to pimp Foxit reader too. Great, great software.

The nice thing about Foxit (apart from the instant rendering and startup) is that they went out of their way to make it look identical to the regular Adobe Reader. There is even a little advert bar that amusingly can be switched off in the view menu.

The company behind it make a PDF rendering component for Windows, which I guess is how they make money. The basic version of Foxit is free (but not libre).

Re:Anyone can play this game.

[wfberg]

You missed some!

Network

putty [greenend.org.uk] for SSH (even commandline SCP which rules), wget [interlog.com] for sucking down the web, opera [opera.com] if you don't like firefox, and some form of bittorrent client, like bitcomet [bitcomet.com].

Utilities

gvim [gvim.org], unxutils [sourceforge.net] or in a pinch some downloads from the gnuwin32 [sourceforge.net] tools, tools from SysInternals [sysinternals.com].

Multimedia

Don't forget Mediaplayer classic (MPC [sourceforge.net]) which by happy coincedence is included in the k-lite mega codec pack (from codecpack.nl [codecpack.nl]).

Security

grisoft AV [grisoft.com], tools from SysInternals [sysinternals.com].

Re:Norton?

[Frankie70]

Why did Google choose to include Norton?

Norton probably paid Google shitload of money to be included in the
pack.

Re:since when does Google Earth run on linux ?

[Ekarderif]

Only FLOSS? Okay, mini-RMS...

Any respectable /. user would use software because it's better, not because it's FLOSS. Those two happen to coincide on many things (Firefox, Linux, BSD, TeX, Ogg), but it also fails in many departments (OOo, XWS). Just because you tack on a political agenda doesn't make people support you. In fact, it tends to do the exact opposite.

Re:"Free"

[melvin xavier]

Well....the funny thing is, if you set back your calendar in 6 months when Norton gives you a friendly reminder it's about to expire, you can extend the life of its 'trial period' indefinately. I've tried this before with success. If it doesn't bug you to have the calendar off, it can be a handy tool to not have to pay for stuff.

One more Anti-Norton post

[Sebastopol]

Yes, this is redundant, but I just want to help make the chorus louder:

NORTON SUCKS.

January of last year I set up a test platform and installed all of the AV programs recommended by the microsoft link page (you know, the page it sends you to when you install XP without AV software)?

Panda, McAfee, Norton, F-Secure, and two others. They all sucked except F-Secure. It just sits there and quietly does its job -- No bullshit menus or intrusions or dialogs that won't go away. (Hell, Panda even put an icon on my xp LOGIN screen that wouldn't go away after de-install).

I think this is one of those cases when redundancy is essential.

Re:Try running a W2K3 game machine

[c_forq]

It offered no real improvement at the time

Better RAM management was worth it alone. Every windows 9x machine I had would eventually eat all it RAM and force a reboot if it wasn't rebooted regularly. Windows XP I've been able to leave on for weeks and it mangages RAM much better. (Pro version, not Home).

Re:Amazed they have included Adobe Reader

[Anonymous Coward]

Speed up Adobe Reader by disabling the plugins.

Go the the /plug_ins dir and move out everything except EWH32.api and Search.api. Should load nearly instantly now, though YMMV.

HTH

Re:Branded?

[hkmwbz]

"There was the initial excitement about its speed and the nice screen and then it came time to actually get it running. Which meant embarking on some real work - downloading a browser, a couple of multimedia players, a PDF reader, a toolbar, and maybe something for voice and instant messaging."

I don't know about everyone else, but my copy of Windows XP came with a browser, a multimedia player, and an instant messaging program. And believe it or not, but I'd pick Windows Media Player over the evil spyware infested Real Player any day.

I'd download Opera separately for my browsing needs anyway, though.

"We worked with a number of technology companies to identify products that are the best of their type to create this suite."

As an Opera user, I'd have to disagree with their choice of browser. Heck, it's even smaller and faster, yet more powerful and user friendly than Firefox out of the box. But of course, the Google toolbar doesn't support Opera...

Oh yeah, and their choice of antivirus software and multimedia player sucks too. They chose the worst there, not the best. I think that someone is not telling us the full story... Are we supposed to believe that Google did this out of the kindness of their hearts? If that was the case, the pack would have looked a bit different if you ask me.

Re:nortan anti-virus

[GaryPatterson]

I would not use Norton's Anit-Virus even if it was free for life, came on a golden CD and updates were hand-delivered by trained flying monkeys.

A one-year subscription came with my motherboard, and I duly installed it after everything else (including a few games). Performance across the board plummeted, apps took ages to open, or sometimes didn't, every file seemed to take ages to read in or write back to disk - in short, everything started to suck badly.

This is on a brand new Athlon-64 3200, with 1GB RAM and 2x160GB drives. It was like greased lightning until NAV was installed.

I removed NAV and after a little looking around, installed Avast (arrr, me hearties!) and it's been great. No complaints at all, and importantly - no perceived performance difference between running Avast and not running any virus checker.