joeware - never stop exploring... :)

You recognize that line?

If not, it is from the Google Desktop install which I just installed yesterday. I believe it is version 3 but I don’t really know.

I read that line and just started cracking up, it definitely got my attention. It told me that if I enable advanced features some info will be sent  to Google. Unfortunately, it didn’t tell me there what the advanced features were so obviously my choice was clear, don’t enable advanced features. Maybe someday I will try to chase down what those advanced features are, but so far I don’t miss them whatever they may be.

 I definitely prefer that information on my PC stay there and not be shipped up to some server somewhere else. It may be a case where my name won’t be associated with the info like they say but unless I saw exactly what they had how am I to know that for sure. Yes yes, I have trust issues, I know this. I trust very very few people, I could never do that fall back into someone’s arms exercise, etc etc yada yada yada… It isn’t anything gets anyone else, that is just who I am. Anyway, I would really hate to think that say even portions of files got shipped up, say tax documents or my joeware or deviantsoftware source code, etc.

But anyway, this is a post about Google Desktop. I have to say, quite cool. Amazingly cool. I am glad a couple of my friends made me install it, what was the final argument that made me do it? “RICHARDS JUST INSTALL IT!”. Oh there was another comment of “Once you hit CTRL CTRL you will be hooked…”. Well darnit, that was correct.

I was responding to a comment someone made and I knew I had an email from Kevin Mitnick somewhere on my PC in the 900+GB of disk space… But where? Previously I would simply sit back and recall that I had it and try to recall what it said and go from there… Not now… no. I hit CTRL CTRL and typed mitnick and voila in less than a second, there is the email. Lovely. Brilliant even. Thanks to my friends who obviously know what is best for me when I don’t. 🙂

Of course one of my MSFT friends last night basically had to say in IM that GDT (that would be Google Desktop) sucks and that MSN DS (Desktop Search??) is much better but I don’t think I could expect much different. He did try to hook me by saying that MSN DS uses ESE in the background knowing I do like ESE, but GDT is good for now, we will see how it goes. If I run into an issue, maybe I will try DS, maybe I will install DS on another machine.

One really cool thing I like is a sidebar. It lets you add little panels to it to display various pieces of info. In addition to several items like local weather (how it figured out what was local to me I am at a loss…), various Satellite images flickering by (Amsterdam at the moment), What’s hot, web clips, and news  I have added a little system monitor, some stocks I tend to care about, weather for two other places and my daily horoscope which frightingly says

Sometimes, you’re so direct, you make the old crow (you know, the one who gets from point A to point B as-the-crow-flies) look like he’s a zigzagging meanderer. This is often very, very good. Sometimes, though, it shocks people who are used to hearing the truth couched in comfortable little white fibs. Try to take stock of the situation, if you can, before you let loose with your super-direct style. But if they’re shocked, they’re shocked, and who knows — maybe it’s good for them. 

Of course its good for them. 🙂

Oh wait…  This just in on What’s Hot…. Poll: Bush ratings At All-Time Low – CBS News…

  

Final word, consider loading and using this tool. Very cool. It took about 18 hours to index my machine at full blast indexing speed instead of Idle mode but I am starting to feel it is well worth it.

http://desktop.google.com/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_campaign=US_HA_EN&utm_term=google%20desktop&utm_medium=cpc 

 

   joe