Advertisment

Google bypasses browser to search PC drives, Web

author-image
CIOL Bureau
New Update

Eric Auchard

Advertisment

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc. unveils a computer and Web search tool on Monday using self-updating navigation and personal information software that puts it in more direct competition with Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.

The creator of the world's most popular Web search system said it was branching out beyond pure search to help users manage e-mail, instant messages, news headlines and music.

Google Desktop 2, as the new search software is known, helps users locate information stored on their own hard disk, on office network drives they may use and on the Web.

Advertisment

"We really want to have people be able to sit back and watch the Web come to them," Nikhil Bhatla, product manager of the Google Desktop product, said, adding that: "We have tried to provide a lot of information in a small amount of space."

Innovative features include a headline syndication system that adds Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds of frequently visited sites, without any special user intervention. Aside from searching the Web, Google will trawl Outlook e-mail and PC program data like Word, Excel, Adobe PDFs and instant messages.

"All this information is available at one glance," Bhatla said. "You don't have to manually do anything," he said. Still, each feature is designed to be easily customized when desired.

Advertisment

Google is moving beyond "Coke Classic" - the basic experience of searching the Web through the browser for which it is known. In ways not always apparent to the user, Google is seeking to control more of a users' computer experience, the way Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online do.

Increasingly for Google, this means that users of its information management tools will not need such tools from Microsoft or Yahoo, and vice versa.

The downside is that Google Desktop's powerful information-vacuuming capabilities can compete for a computer's resources with these rival programs.

Advertisment

"There seems to be parallel development going on among all the major players," said Greg Sterling, a Kelsey Group analyst. The major Web media players all are creating "invisible walled gardens" that are less open than they first appear, he said.

Google's strategy remains focused on search and information management, but in small yet vital ways, users are being nudged to choose sides.

In a challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the computer desktop, users of the Google Sidebar are encouraged to bypass the Windows desktop and "start" navigation menu. The Quickfind feature allows one to return to recently used applications or Web sites without extra mouse clicks.

tech-news