Got search? The Mac version of Google's desktop search tool was recently updated to version 1.1, adding support for nine languages (ausgezeichnet! 好极了!) and improving performance. My personal most-annoying bug, and the reason I stopped using Google Desktop -- the 'accidental double-tap of the command key that activates GD, when all I wanted to do was switch applications' -- is on the hit list and appears to have been squashed.GD is available as a free download from Google and does require Mac OS 10.4. The update process will require a reboot and reindexing your drives to support the new languages; however, Google has changed the architecture of the search utility so that future updates should not require rebooting. The full change list is in the rest of the post.
Release Notes --
Version 1.1.0.520 (8/31/2007)
Feature Improvements
We've improved the following features:
Support for 9 new languages (English UK, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese Simplified and Traditional, Japanese, and Dutch).
Support for non-English and non-Roman languages, especially Japanese.
Crash reporter.
Support to ignore email identified as spam in Mail and Entourage.
Support for contact groups in Address Book and Entourage.
Split kernel extension into two parts to avoid future reboots on Tiger.
Bug fixes
We've fixed bugs where the following actions occurred:
Cmd-cmd hotkey is tripped accidentally
GoogleDesktopDeamon locking up when trying to send messages to itself
Slow performance when changes are made on a volume not being indexed
Slow performance on files with an extraordinary number of unique terms
Non-google pages would sometimes get OneBox results
The Search Box might not launch after install
Index exists on an external volume but can't be deleted in the preference panel
Renames made to an offline volume were not detected
Search Box not appearing correctly when the display changes
Known Issues :
Installation issues:
Updating to version 1.0.4.XXXX may require a reboot and will require all drives to be re-indexed.
During initial indexing, Google Desktop may have a noticeable impact on your computer, especially if your hard drive is highly fragmented or low on disk space. We've designed Google Desktop to be usable - if a bit sluggish - during this period. Once indexing is complete, your computer should return to its normal, speedy self. To expedite indexing, we recommend that you have at least 10% disk space remaining and defragment your hard disk before installing.
Users who have recently upgraded to 10.4.9 may experience unknown errors installing Google Desktop with Google Updater. To resolve this, try to mount any other DMG file; if that fails, please delete /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache and /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kernelcaches/, then reboot your system.
Mail and Browser Issues
Indexing Gmail may take a long time because emails are downloaded in batches; each 'batch' is separated by two hours, and there's no progress meter.
If you use MailTags, you need to delete the existing MailTags Spotlight importer from /Library/Spotlight or ~/Library/Spotlight and reinstall version 2.0b9 or later. Earlier versions cause crashes during indexing.
Privacy Settings
If you have a file or folder that has been moved in and out of the privacy list, Google Desktop search will show revisions of the file when it was outside of the privacy list.
Other Issues
We have received reports of some CVS (Concurrent Versioning System) updates failing with I/O errors. The workaround is to disable indexing during update and re-enable after update is complete.
If you're working with programs like CVS or SVN (Subversion), you may experience large amounts of file I/O. There's a known issue in Mac OS 10.4+ where large amounts of file I/O may cause a kernel panic. To resolve the issue, we recommend adding any CVS- or SVN-associated items to your Privacy list.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-05-2007 @ 8:10AM
Justin said...
*waits for picassa*
Ok, it'll never happen but I can dream.
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 8:44AM
Lisa Hoover said...
Two questions before I try GD:
1) Is there any reason to prefer GD search over Spotlight (FYI: my Gmail imports to Mail.app)?
2) When I tried GD on my Windows box way back when it first came out, it was horrifically s-l-l-o-o-o-o-w. How's the Mac version in that regard?
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 8:45AM
Mark said...
This rules out 99.999% software developers who use a Mac:
"If you're working with programs like CVS or SVN (Subversion), you may experience large amounts of file I/O. There's a known issue in Mac OS 10.4+ where large amounts of file I/O may cause a kernel panic. To resolve the issue, we recommend adding any CVS- or SVN-associated items to your Privacy list."
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 8:51AM
Jef_Cash said...
@Lisa
Is there any reason to use Spotlight over quicksilver?
@Justin
The Picassa plugin for iPhoto?
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 8:58AM
Tom said...
@Jef_Cash
Quicksilver is good, but I wouldn't want it to index an entire hard drive. It's just not designed for that. I use QS for finding common items and Spotlight for finding other stuff that is spread over my disks.
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 9:34AM
Michael Rose said...
Lisa --
Google Desktop vs. Spotlight is an interesting question and not really an either-or (GD requires that Spotlight be turned on, it uses the same indexing hooks). GD can search your web history; it also does a nice job of previewing emails or other content in the browser, which Spotlight does not.
V1 of GD was a performance nightmare on the Mac just as it was on the PC, but it's been steadily improving and no longer drags your machine into a pit of pain... :-)
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 10:38AM
Matt Rodkey said...
@Jef_Cash
Quicksilver searches only by file name (yes this is a simplification since you can search by tags, bookmarks, etc) and then allows you to perform action. It should be noted that Quicksilver has a Spotlight plugin that invokes a spotlight search.
GDS/Spotlight search inside Files/Emails.
Example:
if I have a file named foo.txt that contains the word bar. A Quicksilver search for 'bar' will not find it while a GDS/Spotlight search will.
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 11:19AM
Fritz Laurel said...
Does anybody even use GD? The whole "search" sector mystifies me. Aside from the fact that Mac OS doesn't offer simple search, why would anyone need something like GD? I don't understand.
Cheers,
FL
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 11:46AM
Allison said...
I use GD quite a bit. It works better and faster than Spotlight. But the by far the best feature is that it has things stored that are no longer on my computer. When I have deleted documents or other such things, purposefully or accidentally, because of the indexing, GD finds it, and I can open it, even save it back to my computer. Now I know that the new OS will do the same thing, what's that called? Time Travel or something? But as a graduate student, it has saved my butt several times. Furthermore, I don't have to learn a new program, it just works. Reading 3 books a week and writing a paper or two a week, three kids, and teaching, I don't have time to learn something else, I just need it to work!
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 11:51AM
Michael Rose said...
Fritz, can you clarify "Mac OS doesn't offer simple search?"
If you want to search 10,000 emails (like I do sometimes) GD is helpful.
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 12:18PM
Fritz Laurel said...
@Michael -- I have disabled spotlight b/c i don't like the invasion of privacy of an app indexing my files (nor the insane cpu load it steals).
As such, I am without search. No biggie as I know where 99% of all of my files are across 5 or so drives. But, it's aggravating that I now have no search capability unless I turn on spotlight. It's all or nothing.
And spotlight wouldn't search my hidden folders anyway, which is what I usually need searched when I go a searchin.
I long for simple filename searching (not via terminal).
Cheers,
FL
Reply
9-05-2007 @ 1:30PM
Rhywun said...
Spotlight works fine for me. I'd rather wait for Apple to improve its few problems than go thru the nightmare that was Google Desktop. (OK, maybe it's improved but the original release was terrible as others have noted; I was so turned off I had interest in trying it again).
@Jef_Cash
Quicksilver does not index the contents of files. Spotlight does.
Reply