git ssb

title: > Google Desktop 2 Really Annoys Me date: 2005-12-28 21:18 status: published description: > Google's trademark people might not want to read this.

tags: software, search, Google

<p>
After a while <a href="/googledesktop2" title="Google Desktop 2">I gave in</a> and am now using Google Desktop 2, rather than <a href="/msndesktopsearch" title="Microsoft Desktool MSN Windows Search...top...bar">Microsoft Desktop Searchbox Toolbar</a>, to quickly find stuff. I don't, however, use the sidebar, mainly because it was raping <cite title="otherwise known as “Jonny”">the crapputer</cite>'s <abbr title="central processing unit (its brain)">CPU</abbr>, and because its search box makes all of the toolbars (or <q>desktop flaps</q>) I used to have obsolete. And it's more <em>zen</em>. </p>
<p>
This is why I don't use MSN Desktop Google (hang on...) - with <abbr title="Google Desktop 2">GD2</abbr> I just type something and press Enter; if I want to Google my computer with MSN (you know it makes sense) I have to type something, <em>press down</em>, then Enter. Otherwise a results window is launched, showing the least relevant results first (or so it seems). </p>
<p>
So Microsoft Google (take that, trademark!) is out of the question. Most of <a href="/googledesktop2" title="Google Desktop 2">my pet peeves about GD2</a> are resolved by not using the sidebar, but not all. It turns out GD2 does have a hotkey - <kbd>Windows</kbd>+<kbd>G</kbd> or <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>G</kbd>; neither of these can be changed to my preferred <kbd>F9</kbd>, but I can easily <a href="http://autohotkey.com">AutoHotkey</a> that problem away. </p>
<p>
But there are still little, niggly annoyances: I can't have the search box on the left of the taskbar because it's re-added to the taskbar every time I log on - on the right. There's no need for a <q>Maximise</q> button next to the search field - the drop-down menu includes the option to display the sidebar. </p>
<p>
It's fortunate GD2 doesn't display times very often, because Google insist on using twelve-hour clock-style notation, that hasn't been used by anyone real since the twentieth century (yeah, that's a long time ago); and there's no option to change the format. If <span title="Yeah, I'm talking to Google directly here">you're</span> going to pick one time format for everyone, rather than letting them pick (and this <em>is</em> actually a good idea because it avoids unneccesarily cluttering the user interface), <em>and</em> you refuse to use the format the operating system tells you to use, at least pick a non-stupid format and not the one your country (alone) uses. </p>
<p>
GD2 doesn't seem to want to find the music I have stored in Shared Documents. I've specifically told it to index the folder, but it responds with <q>What? What are you on about? That doesn't exist. Seriously. Nowt there. Now go away.</q>. However it does return music files on my Desktop; or rather they were on my desktop for a few minutes and haven't been there for the past month. Guess where they have been... <q>There's nothing there. Really. La-la-la-not-listening-la-la-la-la!</q>
</p>
<p>
And it's really, obnoxiously American - besides imitating a twelve-hour clock. A normal <cite>I'm Feeling Jammy</cite> search for <q>news</q>, from <a href="http://google.co.uk">google.co.uk</a> returns <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk">BBC News</a>; an equivalent search from the search box returns <a href="http://www.cnn.com"><abbr title="Cable News Network">CNN</abbr></a>. This despite downloading GD2 from <a href="http://desktop.google.co.uk">desktop.google.co.uk</a> - I obviously want searches done via google.co.uk, and not google.com. And there's no option to change this. </p>
<p>
It's really annoying when 90% of something is damned good and the other 10% is imbecilic. </p>