Making what observers call its first move in a race to offer tools to unearth what’s buried in hard drives, Google has rolled out a preliminary version of a new desktop search tool.
Published reports indicate Google Desktop “takes direct aim” at Microsoft – which bought desktop search outfit Lookout in July – Apple, Ask Jeeves, and America Online, all of which are operating or developing such desktop products.
Google Desktop will let you search email in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, AOL Instant Messenger chat threads, and Web pages seen in Internet Explorer, not to mention searching plain text in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
"Our goal,” said Google director of consumer Web products, “is to have it behave like a photographic memory for your computer." She said Google users have been hoping for such a desktop search tool “for years.”
The tool is available as a free download and integrates desktop and Web search, something Jupiter Research said could address the “challenge” of getting people to actually use the tool after it’s downloaded, something previous desktop search providers often could not resolve. The tool lets you search both your own computer and the Internet when you use Google’s search engine.
Microsoft hopes to launch its own local search tooling within the next year. Lookout lets Outlook users find information fast that might be buried in their email inboxes and file folders. Ask Jeeves – a Google search advertising partner – bought desktop search company Tukaroo in June and plans to release an offering before the end of the year.
"Once Google enters the market, because of their huge mindshare, people are going to notice," said IDC research vice president Sue Feldman, predicting to reporters that Google could “elbow out” some desktop search players.
