AMCP Tech Blog

Google has released a new version of their desktop search software, now at beta 3. Of course, this version comes with the sidebar, but has a very interesting new feature. You can store your files on Googles servers and access them with a remote computer (such as a work computer). I can see some privacy advocates having a field day with this one, however, this maybe welcomed by some users. With the update, comes an update to their private policy. If I remember correctly, Google stated that they would never store your information on their servers. Compare the new one, to the old one, which states that "“these combined results can be seen only from your own computer; your computer’s content is never sent to Google (or anyone else)."” The new feature is called "Search Across Computers":

In order to share your indexed files between your computers, we first copy this content to Google Desktop servers located at Google. This is necessary, for example, if one of your computers is turned off or otherwise offline when new or updated items are indexed on another of your machines. We store this data temporarily on Google Desktop servers and automatically delete older flies, and your data is never accessible by anyone doing a Google search.

I haven't tried it, nor do I plan to. This isn't because I don't need desktop search, but because I hate sidebars. You can download the new beta release here.