Google’s latest software gives it more presence on the PC, taking the company farther beyond the traditional search business and into an area Microsoft has long dominated…
A new version of Google’s free hard-drive search tool, released as a test version, comes with an on-screen "sidebar" that allows users to see and access content from the Web and their own machines. Personal photos, news feeds, weather forecasts and e-mails are among the materials the optional sidebar displays. The vertical sidebar appears without requiring users to first open a Web browser such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
It also introduces some features Microsoft does not plan to debut until the next version of Windows is released next year. If there’s anything Microsoft should take away from this, it is that they better move their plans along pretty quickly, said Allen Weiner, an analyst with the Gartner Group.
Analysts said the design underscores the significance of the PC desktop in the market. The company that controls the desktop is in a better position to direct users to its own services. Traditionally, that has been Microsoft, maker of the dominant Windows operating system. But the new tool gives search leader Google a bigger beachhead than before.
The sidebar shows that Google does not necessarily need to create its own operating system or Web browser to make headway, said industry analyst Michael Gartenberg, research director at Jupiter Research. Gartenberg said it’s telling that Google is now referring to the program as Google Desktop, not Google Desktop Search.
It appears their strategy is to carve out their own space on the Windows desktop by providing these value-added services to consumers, he said. At a certain point you start gaining control of the user interface and the user interaction, and those things are extremely important.
Google may take a bigger step beyond traditional search in the coming weeks. The New York Times, citing company executives, reported that Google plans to unveil some form of a communications tool shortly. There has been widespread speculation that Google is working on an instant-messaging program to compete with programs from Yahoo! and Microsoft’s MSN unit.
The latest Google Desktop comes with both personalization and software agent features — learning capabilities. Independent programmers can also develop small programs to extend the software’s use. Both capabilities are likely to be seen as competitive threats by Microsoft, which is focusing on similar information-retrieval and organization advances in its long-delayed next operating system, Windows Vista.
We are really trying to make this into a platform, said Nikhil Bhatla, product manager for Google Desktop. As with Apple Computer’s popular Dashboard feature, the idea is to make it simple for programmers to extend the reach of Google Desktop by adding custom applications.
Early test versions of Windows Vista included a built-in sidebar with features similar to those in the new Google Sidebar, such as the ability to subscribe to news feeds. The sidebar was removed from later versions, though there have been reports it could return before the final release next year.
The new sidebar also includes a field for searching the contents of a hard drive and launching programs directly from the results list. Microsoft’s MSN division offers a desktop search tool for free download.
The next Windows will also come with the ability to launch programs directly from search results.