Yesterday Google launched Google Desktop 2 beta, an extension of their existing Google Desktop application that indexes personal computers so their information is as easy to find as the rest of the web. This beta release introduces a pluggable sidebar, and introduces some interesting possibilities about what will come next.

Extensibility is Key

From the launch of Desktop V1, Google provided open access to the API, for free. This enabled third parties to extend the search capabilities by adding plugins that index file-types which the basic software is unaware of. This extended the reach (and ubiquity) of Google Desktop Search, making it “all things to all people” *.

From my initial use of the basic functions it’s apparent that this application could be considered really useful, or really annoying, depending on your perspective. What Google have (again) got right is that just about every aspect of what Desktop V2 does is configurable, so if you don’t like a feature, you can turn it off or replace it with a third party plugin.

More Configurability

Currently most of the configuration involves only the enabling and disabling of plugins; whilst this will obviously be extended with time, it’s definitely the first thing that’s missing, more configurability.

More integrated search results

One obvious addition to the V1 capabilities is that the toolbar widget can now pop up results to a search as it’s typed. The browser is still fired up as soon as the Enter key is pressed, but with a little familiarisation this mechanism is faster.

Better Mail Integration

One of the default plugins provides a view of the latest emails that have been received. Whilst very useful, especially since it has the ability to filter which messages are shown, the interface is a little confused. It’s just a list of messages and author. Perhaps a little organisation (pictured) would make it a more useful tool.

To Do

Good news: there’s a “To Do” plugin.
Bad news: it doesn’t integrate with Palm Desktop, or any other PDA software, so if youre the kind of person that’s got a to do list already, this potentially very useful feature isn’t really useful, yet.

Integration with Exiting Sidebars

There are now quite a few tools that use sidebars, the most well known of these are the instant messaging tools, and whilst the bars do happily exist together, they run the risk of taking over the screen. A common solution to multiple IM sidebars is to use Trillian, Gaim, or one of the other clients that can connect to multiple IM networks at once. In the interests of keeping the sidebar count down I’m hoping some way of integrating these applications can be found. Running multiple monitors is becoming more commonplace but having one of those dedicated to sidebars is overkill.

Konfabulator Kompetition

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of google desktop is that it paves the way for Google to compete with Yahoo!’s Konfabulator widget toolkit. In a nutshell, Konfabulator Widgets are to the desktop what Utilities are to the Command Line. Konfabulator is a system for creating nice looking widgets that live on the desktop and provide various useful tools such as nice-looking weather reports and nice-looking clocks and nice-looking anything you care to think of.

Google is obviously aware that it has to compete with Konfabulator and the sidebar is a first step towards this. The main limiting factor so far is that:

• Panel’s can’t be undocked and dragged anywhere on the desktop
• Konfabulator widgets work on both Apple and Microsoft machines. *

* No Linux Yet

Google Desktop is still not available on Linux. Google are definitely playing a percentage game here, and the fact that linux has again been omitted shows that Google’s resources are finite.

Google Earth Integration

One possible next step for Google, and one that would appear obvious, is be to extend the quick search facility so that it is closely integrated with Google Earth, perhaps where hitting Enter takes you to the browser, hitting tab might take you to Gootle Earth results.

It’s just an idea, but that’s what Google seem to do best, stringing a series of simple ideas together to make something more useful than the sum of it’s parts.

Adopting the Developers

The make or break aspect for Google Desktop is now it’s 3rd party developers who are no doubt already preparing a slew of Konfabulator widget clones. Such eye-candy is the obvious low-hanging fruit, but it will take time before the real killer plugins emerge. That time is necessary in order for the real potential of “local search” to be understood.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that Google are an Advertising Broker. What this tool provides is another channel through which Google can sell their adverts. How? Well the sidebar isn’t really anything to do with Google Desktop Search, it’s a curiosity that will help them position against Konfabulator, but the pressing business reason for it’s bundling is that it’s an RSS reader, and the majority of Joe Public is only just becoming aware that RSS is a useful way of receiving content. Google recently began inserting adverts into RSS feeds, so through the sidebar, Google have a new means of advertising.

What’s important is that unlike the blatant “advert box” that you see on web pages or other “free” software such as Opera or AOL instant messenger, adverts in the GDS sidebar will look like normal content, and take you to “real web pages”, the only differentiating factor that will be apparent will be that Google get money for passing on your patronage.

Google have sown the seeds of an interesing harvest which may change the way we think and work, again.