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Google should focus on their product- the search bar. Google Plus Me should mean I can find anything of mine via the search bar. If I want to find a file on my

Google should focus on their product- the search bar. Google Plus Me should mean I can find anything of mine via the search bar. If I want to find a file on my computer, I should be able to search for it using google.com instead of spotlight. I should be able to do this even if I'm not on my normal machine. It's not just desktop files. If I want to show my dad pictures of my trip to Cabo, I shouldn't have to log into Facebook, find the always moving Photos app button, find the album, find the picture. I should be able to search 'My cabo pictures' in Google. The omnibar should really become omnipotent. That would be compelling, cool, futuristic must-have UX. That's what Google Plus Me means to me.

talmand 15y ago
You want to be able to search the files on your computer from another computer over the internet using Google? If such a thing exists, what would you do with it? Are you willing to open your entire hard drive to Google to transfer the found files to the second computer? Really?
- OpieCunningham 15y ago
  That wouldn't be necessary. The indexing service could reside on your computer with the "omnibar" able to access it to find results (either built into Chrome or via extensions to other browsers). But since Google would probably want to know the content of your documents to better target ads, the omnibar would eventually, probably, become the nightmare you speak of.
  - talmand 15y ago
    It would be necessary, why search for files on a second computer if you don't want access to those files? Unless the search is restricted to one folder then the whole hard drive is open to Google. I remember Google Desktop being similar to what he wants other than secondary computer access.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
jdpage 15y ago
They have that: Google Desktop. If I recall correctly, it even lets you do it from your other machines. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've used it, so I might be wrong there. (Methinks that it would be vastly improved if they got simply got rid of the big clunky desktop widget engine. Possibly even got rid of the search box and just let you use a web view -- as you described above.)
- tazzy531 15y ago
  deprecated
- jurjenh 15y ago
  I'm pretty sure that has been shut down in one of the last few culling rounds. I agree that it was very useful, it also had a good sidebar that seemed to learn which rss feeds were likely to be interesting among other things, but I stopped using it quite a while ago...
huxley 15y ago
I liked old Google Search. I would pay to lose the omniscience and omnipotence for the same reason I pay for Google Apps, I'm tired of everything being a sales pitch. Someday I may want to look up the stage Nietzsche's syphilis advanced to without that following me around as part of my advertising profile. 'People who enjoyed "Human all too Human" also bought Doxycycline 200 mg tablets' - that sort of stuff creeps me out.
DanI-S 15y ago
I don't think Google /want/ you to have any files on your computer. They could have built Dropbox a long time ago, but that's not the direction they want the world to go. They chose Google Docs instead. Whether they're correct or not is still up for debate. Dropbox are doing pretty well.
- pvarangot 15y ago
  > I don't think Google /want/ you to have any files on your computer. Oh, yes they want. They also want to be your computer.
  - DanI-S 15y ago
    This is certainly true.
  - eli_gottlieb 15y ago
    No, not really. They don't want to be your computer; that would mean you have a computer. They want to convince you to replace your computer with a thin client that forwards all actual data and computation to them. That's their ultimate business proposition: you get analyzed for ad-men, and they make the big mean scary monster of responsibility for one's own computing go away.
spullara 15y ago
Here is some information on the product that did this that they launched in 2004: http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/ http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/

talmand 15y ago

You want to be able to search the files on your computer from another computer over the internet using Google? If such a thing exists, what would you do with it? Are you willing to open your entire hard drive to Google to transfer the found files to the second computer? Really?

OpieCunningham 15y ago
That wouldn't be necessary. The indexing service could reside on your computer with the "omnibar" able to access it to find results (either built into Chrome or via extensions to other browsers). But since Google would probably want to know the content of your documents to better target ads, the omnibar would eventually, probably, become the nightmare you speak of.
- talmand 15y ago
  It would be necessary, why search for files on a second computer if you don't want access to those files? Unless the search is restricted to one folder then the whole hard drive is open to Google. I remember Google Desktop being similar to what he wants other than secondary computer access.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

jdpage 15y ago

They have that: Google Desktop. If I recall correctly, it even lets you do it from your other machines. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've used it, so I might be wrong there. (Methinks that it would be vastly improved if they got simply got rid of the big clunky desktop widget engine. Possibly even got rid of the search box and just let you use a web view -- as you described above.)

tazzy531 15y ago
deprecated
jurjenh 15y ago
I'm pretty sure that has been shut down in one of the last few culling rounds. I agree that it was very useful, it also had a good sidebar that seemed to learn which rss feeds were likely to be interesting among other things, but I stopped using it quite a while ago...

huxley 15y ago

I liked old Google Search. I would pay to lose the omniscience and omnipotence for the same reason I pay for Google Apps, I'm tired of everything being a sales pitch. Someday I may want to look up the stage Nietzsche's syphilis advanced to without that following me around as part of my advertising profile. 'People who enjoyed "Human all too Human" also bought Doxycycline 200 mg tablets' - that sort of stuff creeps me out.

DanI-S 15y ago

I don't think Google /want/ you to have any files on your computer. They could have built Dropbox a long time ago, but that's not the direction they want the world to go. They chose Google Docs instead. Whether they're correct or not is still up for debate. Dropbox are doing pretty well.

pvarangot 15y ago
> I don't think Google /want/ you to have any files on your computer. Oh, yes they want. They also want to be your computer.
- DanI-S 15y ago
  This is certainly true.
- eli_gottlieb 15y ago
  No, not really. They don't want to be your computer; that would mean you have a computer. They want to convince you to replace your computer with a thin client that forwards all actual data and computation to them. That's their ultimate business proposition: you get analyzed for ad-men, and they make the big mean scary monster of responsibility for one's own computing go away.

spullara 15y ago

Here is some information on the product that did this that they launched in 2004: http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/ http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/