“Google Inc. plans to release a version of its desktop search tool for computers running on the Mac operating system from Apple Computer Inc., Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday,” Reuters reports. “Schmidt did not set a timetable for a Mac version of Google Desktop, saying it had to be rebuilt from the ground up because of the fundamental differences between the Mac OS and Windows. ‘We intend to do it,’ Schmidt said at a University of California-Los Angeles conference commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Internet.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Can you say redundant and late? By the time Google gets a Mac OS X version ready, Mac users will already have Mac OS X “Tiger” with one of its premiere features: “Spotlight” search technology. We think Apple will do a far better job with a Mac search tool than Google. Apple did create the OS after all. Find out more about “Spotlight,” due with “Tiger” in the first half of 2005 here.
Even better, for those with Panther try
http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
After I read some reports on ‘The Register’ website (and some others) about Google Spyware, I decided to *never* use Google again. I extracted the link from Safari and always use some other search engine. I am not that intersested in having my online activity recorded or reported to some committee in the name of ‘security’.
Before you start calling me paranoid or justifying this kind of activity by saying “Oh well, it’s being done anyway” or “It’s just keeping honest people honest”, how would you feel if someone recorded all of your phone conversations or read all of your mail, ‘just to keep you honest’ ? It’s called invasion of privacy and I, for one, will never use a Google product again.
BTW, if you are comfortable with Google and don’t mind using their products, then feel free to do so.
Just be careful.
personally, i’ll never have to use google search for mac os x cuz i’ll have tiger by then… but i can guarantee you that there are many people who can’t afford the 129 (69 for education) – no matter how TOTALLY worth it it is – for what they think the big draw is… searching. and they’ll find that feature in google search for their panther system. this is for all to enjoy…. sorry for the terrible sentence structure. it’s too late for me already. engineering major is soo much fun,.
MDN quoting a POST?
That’s not a reputable source of information.
I highly doubt Google will incorporate a search feature for Mac OS X.
1: It’s not needed
2: Google would have to have administrative rights, and we all know the security issues with that.
3: Apple would lose some security control to Google.
This is more of Windows penetration as M$ is chopping Longhorn to get it out the door because of the threat of Mac OS X and security issues.
I highly doubt this, someone is BS or misinformed.
I’ve heard some bad things about the Google search tool, like personal information privacy issues. I’m fine with just keeping google in my Safari toolbar and using OSX’s search tools. They are fast enough for me to search my HD and I keep my HD index updated enough for it to be fast even with 86GB of data.
And with Tiger comeing out soon, I don’t see a relevant use for it.
A lot of software development is done by big companies just to keep a finger in the pie, so to speak.
A Google search tool might be redundant by the time it comes out, but it will please the stockholders, and will possibly lead to more OSX development – not a bad thing.
If nothing else, competition for Spotlight to keep Apple on its toes.
I’ll keep my hard drive to myself, thank you very much!
Hey, who knows the google search for Mac OSX may be even better than what Apple have planned – would be wise to keep an open mind dont you think?
The cookies or whatever could send a complete list of all your files to Google. What are they up to ? What’s wrong with the computers built in search function ?
Funny how they consider the Mac a viable platform for rummaging through someone’s hard drive, yet can’t be arsed to develop the Google toolbar for Mac which is genuinely useful if you have a website.
For those that use Tiger, Google Desktop will be an irrelevance.
What I’d really like to see is the Alexa Toolbar on Mac. For webmasters THAT really would be useful.
John..
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
That’s hilarious…
No seriously..
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Er.. *compose myself.. you make it sound like the Google Search is some big mystery.. IT’S ALREADY OUT.. you can check out a video on it on the NYTimes website.. it’s whack.. it sort of.. makes an index of all your files and emails, etc and then you search for stuff as if you were searching a webpage..
Apple’s is leaps and bounds better.. so much so that.. really.. Google’s gonna be whining about Mac Marketshare when no one downloads the thing..
Then again.. Apple has acknowledged Google is king with Safari Integration..
But please.. Only XP users who are stuck with 1997 Technology would think the Google Bar is … *lmao.. groundbreaking.. and .. LMFAO convenient..
The Indexing takes a couple hours.. god .. how mickey mouse..
Let Google have its fun. If nothing else it will serve to reassure “Switchers” that the crappy tools they’re used to on windows also exist on the Mac. Of course, once the switch is made, Google desktop search will go bye bye. Why start a separate program when your search box is present right there in every app.
There is one positive and useful way Google could approach the redesign of its tool in the OS X context. That would be to offer a set of specialized indexers rather than the search front end.
UM… Actually he didn’t. I was sitting right there listening to him and that’s not what he said at all. Here’s the scoop:
http://www.seanbonner.com/blog/archives/001048.php
fandango….
You hit the nail on the head…. and it kinda harkens back to the days of the “Patroit Act” and a small piece of literature written by one George Orwell…
Personally, I dont see a need to give some online source the power to index your hard drive, so you can search it online….
OSX’s current Find feature already does a great job… and even Sherlock, before it.. was pretty amazing..
If the old adage..“Information is Power”.. is true… then theres a big question that begs to be answered first….
Just WHAT .. will the honchos at Google DO.. with the power they will attain… from the information they will gain from having a huge database listing billions of items on peoples hard drives ??
No thanx….
I will forever use “Command F”.. to find what I need !!
Don’t need google even now with my mac to find anything, dopes.
NightOwl – If you had followed the link from Neowin.net, you would have been taken to the Reuters news story to which the post refers.
I’m sure that MDN (unlike you apparently
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> did the link before posting the story, and were fully the source of the story was not a post, but instead was a story from Reuters.