Zhaba Zhournal

Zhaba Zhournal

Desktop cleanup
An open letter:

I love ya, Google, really I do; and as soon as I heard about Google Desktop I downloaded it, installed it, and let it index my computer all night. And I put up with the crashes it induced and the overall computer slowness I'm pretty sure it contributed to, because, even though it doesn't work with Mozilla Firefox or Thunderbird, I thought the ability to search within files on my hard drive would be useful, especially since Windows's own search function is soooooo slooooowwww. And you sure did do those file searches fast. But not any more effectively than the Windows search and the "Find in files" search in my beloved TextPad editing program; plus, in TextPad, I can use regular expressions. And you made my computer so slow, those fast searches weren't saving me nearly as much time as you were costing me.

Look, you're supposed to be good for four things: searching e-mail, Web history, instant messages, and files. And since you don't do the first two, and I never use IM, three of those four are out the window; and the last one, well, I've got other programs that'll do almost the same thing, and they take up a lot less room on my hard drive. I'd've stuck with you if you had definite plans to add Firefox/Thunderbird compatibility; but, when I went to your FAQ today, and clicked on one of your top five questions, I can't find webpages I viewed with Mozilla Firefox [which is a statement, not a question, but never mind], you told me:

Google Desktop Search is only partially compatible with Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox. Desktop Search does not currently support Thunderbird.

How Desktop Search works with Mozilla and/or Mozilla Firefox:

If you install Desktop Search and open a Mozilla or Firefox browser window, you'll see a 'Desktop' link appear on the Google homepage. You can click this link to go to the Desktop Search homepage whenever you want to search with Desktop Search.

Webpages that you view in Mozilla and/or Firefox aren't added to your Desktop Search index, however, so you won't be able to find them with Desktop Search.

[Ed. note: That's what you mean by "working with" and "compatible"? Dude, you're "compatible with" Mozilla in the same way a lamprey is "compatible with" a sturgeon.]

We realize that many of our users use Mozilla or Firefox as their primary browser and Thunderbird as their email program. We may consider adding increased Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, and Thunderbird support in a future version of Desktop Search.

You may consider? Okay, fine. I may consider re-installing you if you do that. (Nice touch, by the way, that when I uninstalled you, you directed me to a Web page where I could tell you why. So I told you, and you can add me to the "many users" who you "realize" use Mozilla programs primarily or exclusively.) No, really, I do think it's nice; I get the feeling that you care about me and/or my opinion more than Microsoft does. I want to like you. I want to use you. And if you ever become useful, I will.

Sincerely,
Zhaba

[ at 3:40 PM • by Abby • permalink • ]

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