NEW YORK: A few days ago a colleague in the business had remarked that “Google was becoming as ubiquitous as Microsoft on the Internet.” I’d say that was an unfair comment: unfair to Microsoft. Ridiculous as that may sound, Google is certainly many cyber streets ahead of the software giant. For every step that Microsoft takes to advance in the Internet business, Google has already taken two. The beta versions of its most current products - Google Desktop 2 and Google Talk (launched last month), prove just that.
If you are already trying out these products you don’t need explaining how this Internet service firm has been making its fortune. But a couple of facts about their superlative command over the medium stare you in the face. These are: user-friendly simplicity and powerful search capabilities. Based on these strengths alone, the firm has advanced from a search engine to one that provides a diverse range of services upping its stock value.
Desktop 2 does much more than the previous version which was little more than a search program for files and documents on your system. You might consider this version a search tool-cum-information manager.
Version 2 features one more element called Sidebar which has seven panels. Sidebar is so called because it docks to the side of your monitor screen with seven different panels that feature an RSS reader, Google News and Gmail inbox among others. A text-editor is also included.
If the Sidebar is found to be intrusive it can be made to hide or minimized as a floating search field or a simple search field in the Windows task bar. A definite improvement on the first version is the index and search function by which it will search drives on all the computers on your network for the data that it has indexed. This is doubtlessly the most welcome feature.
The other product - Google Talk has an instant messaging client with which you can do both text and voice. It is also integrated with Gmail and can store chat conversations (only the most recent ones). But that’s about it. There’s a lot more that it doesn’t do.
Google’s developers might consider it worth their while to develop an upgrade with IM features like games, share-photos, etc., that AOL’s and MSN’s IM services offer. They might also consider changing the font/typeface to one that is easier on the eye.
On the plus side Google Talk is developed using an open technology called Jabber which allows people on different networks to talk to each other.
