Google unveils desktop search | CNET News.com

Google unveils desktop search | CNET News.com

What's new:
Google unveils its first desktop application for searching through personal files on the PC and through a person's Web history.
Bottom line:
The unveiling trumps rivals Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL in the race to integrate Web navigation with PC search.

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Rumored for months, Google's unveiling of desktop search trumps rivals Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online in the race to integrate Web navigation with PC search and stay on the cutting edge of search technology in people's minds. Desktop search has been earmarked a priority by all the major search engines, but among investors and analysts Microsoft has posed the biggest threat to Google's reign because of its dominance with the Windows operating system.

Google has "not only beat their rivals to the punch, they've also changed the rules," said Danny Sullivan, a search industry pundit and editor of SearchEngineWatch.com. "They're saying, 'We're not making search part of the operating system, we're making the desktop part of Google.'"

Still, Google may face challenges in the area of consumer privacy. Though Google will not have access to users' personal information on their desktop, the search tool will make personal files, including e-mail and AOL chat logs, viewable on their Web browser within seconds. That could prove embarrassing if someone else has access to the user's computer or is looking over the shoulder.

"There will be privacy concerns because the tool's so close to you. Anything you do on your desktop will be recorded," said Charlene Li, an analyst at market research firm Forrester Research.