A Review of Google Desktop for Linux

In previous reviews, I have written about such meta search programs as Beagle (for Linux), which searches inside files to allow you to search your documents even more precisely than before. No longer are you forced to only search file names; now you can search a file based on its contents.

Mac users (at least those using Tiger) have long had Spotlight, and Windows users (and recently Mac users), have been able to use Google's offering, called simply Google Desktop. Linux users, however, had to use one of a couple different open-source projects - Beagle or Tracker. Beagle has been around longer, but lately seems to have run into some issues where its CPU usage would suddenly spike, and it would effectively take over the machine, rendering it almost unusable. Tracker is a newer project, but in my eyes shows more promise. I've gotten the same great results, but it never seems to take over my system.

Still, neither program was as wonderful (or convenient) as Spotlight or Google Desktop, which is why I was so excited a couple days ago to see that Google had released their meta search product for Linux! While it isn't open source (meaning that you or I can't get inside the actual code of the program to see how it works, or make any modifications to it), which will undoubtedly offend many open source purists, I'm more of a pragmatist, and so this announcement made me incredibly happy.

Downloading Google Desktop was a snap. Simply go to the project's home page and click the big blue download button. From this page, you can download either a .deb or .rpm installation package, depending on whether you use a Red Hat/Fedora/Suse/Mandriva system or a Debian/Ubuntu/Freespire system. Or you can choose to use Google's Linux Repository, which allows you to install Linux products to your computer via your computer's standard package management software. Instructions for installation via this method can be found on this page.