Google Desktop Search: Ready for Business?
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When the beta for Google Desktop Search came out in October of 2004, there were cries of both horror and delight -- delight about a desktop search tool that actually
worked, and horror when several observers pointed out potential security and privacy concerns. Now Google has released the 1.0 version of the desktop search application. Does this release address the issues raised by the beta?
Google has been fairly open with its beta products – who hasn’t yet received an invite for Gmail? – and is known for testing those products for months before going to a full-fledged release. The search engine giant’s recent release of Google Desktop Search 1.0 is no exception. I can remember my fellow editor trying it out in beta not long after I came onboard here at DeveloperShed in November, and singing its praises.
For those of you who aren’t writers or editors, this meant that the program had passed a major test. I’m not saying that my colleague was disorganized, you understand. I’m saying that the organization problems faced by a working writer/editor trying to keep track of authors' communications, manuscripts, source material, schedules, deliverables, and many more minutiae are…well, if not unique, then certainly formidable. Indeed, while I don’t doubt that many home PC users found the Google Desktop Search beta very helpful, I’m quite certain that it was originally designed with the enterprise market in mind.
The reasoning behind that is simple: the stakes are usually higher when a business misplaces information than when an individual misplaces information. Additionally, businesses generally produce more information than single individuals. Combine those two points, and you have set the stage for an information management nightmare. Google quite justifiably expects that any application that can help workers find the information they need to do their jobs – especially if it helps them find it quickly and efficiently – would be welcomed with open arms.
Up until recently, though, this particular program came with a catch. Google released the beta for its Desktop Search in October of 2004. In December of that year, Gartner Group warned enterprises not to use the tool. The eminent industry research firm raised the matter of security issues. According to Gartner research director Maurene Grey, quoted in a CNETAsia story: “We have no problem with it being used for personal use. Our concern is…when it is used in a corporation, we have some security and privacy issues. Google says it will collect only nonpersonal data, but in a corporation how can you monitor what is being collected?”
Indeed, those of us who watch for any news related to Google – and in this field, who doesn’t? – may recall that, later that same month, the search engine powerhouse needed to patch a security vulnerability in the desktop search tool. A pair of graduate students discovered the vulnerability while performing a security audit as part of their final project in their Computer Systems Security course. An attacker could take advantage of the vulnerability by including a Java applet in a Web page and setting it up to appear to the user as a normal part of the page. The attack would work by tricking the Google Desktop tool into integrating its local search results; the applet would then read those results and send them back to the attacker.
Google’s prompt response to the issue was reassuring. The question is, now that the full-fledged 1.0 release of the Google Desktop Search tool is available, is it more secure?
Next: How it Works, and What is Different in 1.0 >>
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