Google Desktop: Ready for primetime?

Google released the latest version of Google Desktop last week. I embraced the opportunity to try it again.

Pros:
- The Google Gadgets on the desktop almost evoke a Konfabulator/Yahoo Widget Engine feel. Not quite as elegant, less of them.
- The self-learning news and RSS feeds feature in the Sidebar is simply awe-inspiring. Imagine a personal assistant that watches what you do, learns what you like, and constantly fetches the latest for you.
- Google search on your desktop? Emails, docs, etc.? Say no more.

Cons:
- SLOW. In the indexing, it takes a good few days to get done.
- It is not as elegant as it claims to not interfere with your daily work; it should ONLY index in the background, without excessive CPU load. Instead, it can spike my CPU to 100%, and leave me waiting for up to a minute to read an email, etc.
- Not enough Gadgets to really compete. I'd like to see them take their homepage gadgets and extend them to the desktop.

Jury's still out...

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Tretakoff Musings

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