git ssb

title: "Google Desktop 2" date: 2005-08-23 23:01 status: published description: > Fourteen hours too late.

tags: software, search, Google

<p>
Well, <a href="/msndesktopsearch" title="MSN Desktop Windows Search Bar">that was good timing</a>. <em>One</em> day later (even less actually - it was a measly 14 hours before <a href="http://www.kottke.org/remainder/05/08/9244.html" title="kottke.org">the relevant remaindering</a>), Google goes and releases <a href="http://desktop.google.co.uk">Google Desktop 2</a>. I have installed it and, very generally, I like it. </p>
<p>
I like that it integrates with Firefox and Thunderbird by default and automatically. I didn't have to tell it my Gmail username and password for it to display incoming mail from Thunderbird. Apparently, the Web Clips panel adds subscriptions for websites I visit frequently in Firefox, automatically. (<a href="http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/008708.html" title="rss is a silly name (Asa Dotzler's no-longer-a-notblog*)"><acronym title="Oh My God">OMG</acronym> they're trying to rename <abbr title="Rich Site Summary">RSS</abbr> <acronym title="What the...">WTF</acronym> <acronym title="Shut...Up">STFU</acronym>!</a>) </p>
<p>
<img src="/googledesktop2/currentsidebar.png" alt="" title="The current setup" class="inset"> At the moment I use a custom native Windows XP toolbar. At the top I have a collection of frequently used files and folders, below which is the MSN Windows tooltop deskbar search text field jobby. Below that I have the contents of the My Recent Documents folder, <abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr> twenty of the most recently used files and their containing folders. </p>
<p>
<abbr title="Google Desktop 2">GD2</abbr> can replace much of this functionality with its Quick View panel, and I can merge the rest with the toolbar on the left of my desktop. But, there are a few things that'll stop me from getting rid of my current setup and using GD2 full-time: </p>
<ol>
<li>The sidebar can be auto-hidden, but it stays “always on top”; so the far top-right corner of the screen is no longer the currently maximised window's Close button, it's now just dead space on the sidebar.</li>
<li>When I point to the right edge of the screen the sidebar waits for a short while before appearing; this is obviously to prevent it popping up in front of a maximised window when I'm just trying to scroll, but that wouldn't be a problem if the sidebar didn't insist on being “always on top”.</li>
<li>When I click away from MSN Deskbar Windows Tool Search, it automatically dismisses itself and leaves me alone; GD2 persists, <em>in front</em> of everything else of course.</li>
<li>I've already got used to pressing F10 and having Windows Desktop MSN Bar focus itself; GD2 needs this option (and I have to be able to make it F10, not Ctrl+Shift+G or something similarly intricate).</li>
<li>
<ins>I'd like to be able to see more than ten search results without opening a webpage.</ins> <ins>It doesn't matter how accurate the results are, it's not going to find all of <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Max%C3%AFmo+Park/A+Certain+Trigger" title="A Certain Trigger, for example">a 13-track album</a>. Desktop MSN Whatever still only shows 12, but the full-blown results window isn't a webpage.</ins>
</li>
</ol>
<p>
There are a few other things I'd like to see fixed but that wouldn't necessarily stop me from using GD2: </p>
<ol>
<li>Much of the news content seems distinctly North American; maybe it's actually just international. Maybe me looking at more UK- and Europe-related news would fix this automatically for me. But it should be a bit smarter and offer more tailored content (and fix the spelling of the <abbr title="user interface">UI</abbr>) based on my location.</li>
<li>Panels should scroll automatically (where it makes sense), rather than just showing the first item</li>
<li>It still seems a little eager to fire up a webpage; there should be an option to turn off all webpage-based UI and handle preferences through proper chrome (or it should just do that anyway)</li>
<li>The search box is stuck to the bottom; maybe I want it at the top, or somewhere in the middle.</li>
<li>When I resize the preview box for news items (as I'm invited to by the grippy), I expect more content to be shown, not more whitespace.</li>
<li>When I type <kbd>Maximo Park</kbd> I also want it to find <code>Maxïmo Park</code>, like a Google web search would.</li>
<li>It'd be nice if there was a To Do panel that could integrate with my Sunbird iCalendar files, like Konfabulator's <acronym title="Personal Information Manager">PIM</acronym> Overview widget can. It'd be even better if it was an editor rather than just a display (only if it was properly interoperable with Sunbird, of course).</li>
<li><ins>I'm not allowed to move the deskbar out of the taskbar and into another native Windows XP toolbar, like I could with GDS and can with Desktop MSN Windows Search Toolbar.</ins></li>
<li><ins>It'd be nice if the panels could automatically resize themselves to suit the amount of content they contain (as long as it happened while I wasn't looking).</ins></li>
</ol>
<p>
So for now I'm sticking with Search Microsoft Desktop Windows Toolbar...box. If Google had been a day earlier, they might've just won. </p>