Google Desktop Now on Linux 293
mytrip writes "Google was set to launch late on Wednesday a beta version of Google Desktop search for Linux in a sign of encouragement by the search giant for Linux on the desktop.
Google Desktop allows people to search the Web while also searching the full text of all the information on their computer, including Gmail and their Web search history. Because the index is stored locally on the computer, users can access Gmail and Web history while offline."
Privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Privacy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Spousal Abuse (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Spousal Abuse (Score:4, Insightful)
You assume they built Google Desktop to run it on their own clustered computers? Or is this one blatantly fallacious argument you pulled off there.
How about counting the OS numbers on the machines they're targeting.
How does it run? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Spousal Abuse (Score:4, Insightful)
No 64 bit (Score:5, Insightful)
This delay has been good (Score:2, Insightful)
Thank you Google for delaying the Linux version! We now have Beagle, Strigi, the Nepomuk project and more as free alternatives to your proprietary software. There would have been free desktop search software anyway, but most likely there would have been a bit less enthusiasm for its development, and some distributions might have flocked to supporting the Google product.
I'm excited that Linux is still flying under the radar to such a large extent, when it comes to commercial software. Soon it will be Ready For The Desktop (TM) and the Linux desktop is still 100% free!
+500 Insightful (Score:1, Insightful)
Waiting for the -paid by MS- blogers to talk about "the Desktop Users" and "the corporate Customer", both of which are imaginary and used as excuses to create dumb, insecure and user friendly software.
Web browser interface sucks (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't work with the results when they come up in your browser window.
This is one thing that Spotlight really does have going for it. Being able to have a search folder which dynamically has all the results I want whenever I open it is really useful. Now spotlight needs some work and is not perfect, but google desktop is really lacking in this area.
Obsession with search (Score:5, Insightful)
Woo hoo! (Score:2, Insightful)
security? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This delay has been good (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's more like security by diversity. If a burglar had to try dozens of entirely different types of keys (never mind all the key patterns that each type includes) to break into a house, he would not find breaking into houses as attractive a prospect, and if he did try, it would be more likely that someone would notice him. Similarly, if a hacker has to try dozens of different buffer overflow attacks against your system, he's less likely to target it, and if he does, you're more likely to notice it, since naturally a buffer overflow attack will degrade into a crashed program if it doesn't actually execute the intended payload.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with security by obscurity, as long as it's only one tool. For example, moving your ssh port to 2222 instead of 22 will probably subject you to an order of magnitude or two fewer ssh worms, which is a good thing. But of course you'd still want to have good passwords. Obscurity is a useful tool, especially when you are protecting a system that has no intrinsic reason to be selected. It can make you less of a target, and since security is never perfect, any layer that reduces the probability of an attack is useful.
Re:Privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
* No, I don't thrawl through every line of code of every FOSS program I use.
* Those programs that I _do_ go through, I can most certainly miss something or not understand something.
But it's still more likely that I'll find a secret backdoor in an open-source program than in a closed-source one. And the real beauty isn't that _I_ have to find something, but that others, like me, can find something. Nothing much can beat the collective scrutiny of a million nerds.
Too much space (Score:2, Insightful)
GoogleOS? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No 64 bit (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:What make Linux secure is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Privacy (Score:1, Insightful)
People just want good quality free software. Nobody gives a fuck about "open"
Re:Google This! - shameless website plug (Score:1, Insightful)