Re: Google Desktop for Linux Released

On 7/1/07, Dylan Griffiths <dylang@thock.com> wrote:

> Apple's Spotlight, a similar tool built into 10.4+ of the OS, is
> something I usually disable due to the large meta-files generated. As
> an example, my laptop's slocate db is about 12 megabytes. Wanting to be
> able to use the equivalent feature inside Finder, I went and wrote a
> small Spotlight importer which only stuck the filename into the
> Spotlight DB for searching. I let it index my homedir. The meta-file
> it generated was a few gb in size (yeesh), with the same amount of
> information as my slocate db!
>
> How good/bad is Google desktop at this?

My home folder has ~20K items taking up ~108 GB.
The .google directory is ~135 MB.

Note that I am not using the feature that lets me keep/search
old/deleted versions of files (that's probably why they suggest that
you have ~1GB of space)

> Is it easy to only have it index certain directories?

Yes :)

Here's a screenshot of the preferences:
http://members.shaw.ca/Limulus/misc/google_desktop_options.png

By default it also indexes various man page dirs, but I removed those.

> Also, I'm curious if such an app phones home
> or otherwise fiddles with bits not its own.

http://desktop.google.com/en/linux/privacypolicy.html

---
Information we collect
    * The Google Desktop application indexes and stores versions of
your files and other computer activity, such as email, chats, and web
history. These versions may also be mixed with your Web search results
to produce results pages for you that integrate relevant content from
your computer and information from the Web. Your computer's content is
not made accessible through Google Desktop to Google without your
explicit permission.
    * Your copy of Google Desktop includes a unique application
number. When you install Google Desktop, this number and a message
indicating whether the installation succeeded are sent back to Google.
Also, when Google Desktop automatically checks to see if a new version
of the software is available, the current version number is sent to
Google. The unique application number is required for Google Desktop
to work and cannot be disabled.
    * If you choose to enable Advanced Features, Google Desktop may
send a limited amount of non-personal information from your computer
to Google. This includes summary information, such as the number of
searches you do and the time it takes for you to see your results, and
application reports we'll use to make the program better.
---
CK