WIZARD2  Google should be ashamed of this virus-like bloatware.

Think I'm exaggerating? Go look at your Activity Monitor, look at all the spurious processes running as ROOT. Count the processes, the daemons, the background events that spawn off this crap. Then -- try to REMOVE IT. Yeah, there is an 'uninstaller'.... LOL.

I just spent five ugly hours uninstalling the bits of crud Google spewed all over a clients computer after an unwitting dweeb employee installed Google's perpetual gift to mankind. This stuff is almost as bad as Norton's NAV which like hydra spews crud all over your drive and dares you to find it and remove it.

Google should stick to simple electronic hide-and-seek -- and leave real code and apps to people who adhere to best practices, and have a clue how to code for speed, reliability and security.

Only wish it were possible to gift Google -5 stars  
(Version 1.6.0.1552)

PETER DA SILVA  Thank you for removing Google Updater from this product. Not only is GU unnecessary bloat, but I'm worried about the security implications of the extensions it implements in browsers that allow you yo "push" an update from your website.

Google: I've asked this in support requests, on your forums, in email to your security people, and even on slashdot... could you explain the security model of Google Updater, and the undocumented _GU_*() javascript API in Firefox and IE?  
(Version 1.6.0.1552)

EDIFIED  Works great EXCEPT for Google Update running in the background ALL the time, with no option to do manual update (for those of us who use our equipment for things like presentations and live production where you can't have update popups run rouge.

And what's up with an update process running as root? So much for do-no-evil.

Dear Google, Mac users would love you if you used Sparkle with an option for manual updates!  
(Version 1.6.0.1552)

NESSUNO  It took me hours to DE-install all of G.D.'s background-process-based b...s... - after finding that it's not even worth trying.  
(Version 1.6.0.1552)

HOTFREAKS  One warning to potential Google Desktop users: This is a very poorly-supported project. Do not expect to get responses from Google via email or via posting to the Google Desktop group in Google groups. You are essentially on your own if you hit any snags.  
(Version 1.5.0.1243)

ORION MK. V  Installed and runs JUST FINE on my Intel iMac. Tied in with spotlight's exclude list I can "block" searching of directories or volumes without a problem and if you use the Google Updater it's easy to update and UNINSTALL various Google apps.

That said, Google Desktop is a bit redundant with Spotlight, but after the indexing is done it does run better, so no complaint there -- Spotlight can be quirky about what it chooses to show.

I've never been a fan of Apple's dashboard widgets, so the addition of Google Gadgets is useless to me, but I did try a few and the install and run just fine.  
(Version 1.4.0.838)

HOTFREAKS  While I'd love to have search access to my Gmail while offline, the damn Google Updater and its associated daemon prevent me from installing this software. Imagine if every piece of software you installed ran a monitoring program in the background at all times. Until Google falls in line and distributes Mac software properly, I have removed this and Google Notifier. Mac developers should know better.  
(Version 1.4.0.838)

PEDROJ  Extremelly hard to remove once installed. Takes up a lot of computer resources while indexing. Definitely not my choice after new Spotlight in Leopard much improved.  
(Version 1.3.1.806)

XENOPHILE  Effing Brilliant!

Ever since upgrading to Tiger, I've been desperate for a solution to finding files and stuff on my computer. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack using OS X. Finally, Google comes to the rescue with a simple app I can quickly launch and leave running in the background.

Google Desktop just finds stuff. Period.

Perhaps for a future release, Google could somehow tie this into the file system so it works faster. Or maybe Apple could buy it from Google and incorporate it into OS X somehow, so it worked like a searchlight.

Thanks for filling a gaping hole in Mac OS X, Google!  
(Version 1.3.1.806)

ELEGRAPHY  I like Gmail, Sketch Up, and other Google products. They deserve 5 stars.

However, this one is bloatware. It automatically install extra things that you don't want, and once you install it on your Mac, it's hard to kill. I keep Activity Monitor alive on my Desktop and kill it, and it keeps coming back.

Beware!!! Use EasyFind and Spotlight instead!  
(Version 1.3.0.748)

ZO219  There is no reason on earth to use this unwieldy, bloated thing ... which installs so much crap in so many places installers are not supposed to go in OS X, and there's no excuse for Google releasing this mess for the Mac. Which they know and use, but hey.

When Spotlight is not enough, use the free and excellent EasyFind.   
(Version 1.3.0.748)

HOTFREAKS  TUISHIMI: The point is, Spotlight is universally recognized as being slow and useless, so users are forced to use other tools like Google Desktop, LaunchBar and Quicksilver.  
(Version 1.1.0.520)

TUISHIMI  I've tried several versions of this application. It seems to run alright, but I guess at this point I fail to see what advantages this holds over Spotlight.

It does basically the same thing, takes up a good amount of disk space, and has been buggy (understandable at this point).

With plugins, Spotlight can also search the web/google. Using mdimport you can assign new types of files that you want spotlight to scan, if it misses some that google desktop scans.

So again, I am not sure what the point is.  
(Version 1.1.0.520)

CHRIS REED  Installed this and found it very useful, easy to use, fast and for free, great value.

However.

It opens at startup and will not be switched off in prefs. After a while I got an error message that Google Desktop has unexpectedly quit. Around this time I started have little problems, mainly with the desktop/gui and mouse actions not working, all indicative of logic board problems. I did disk utility stuff, whole bit... Today my mac would not work. Apps would not launch, then when I shut down got told shutdown had been stopped by the apps that would not launch. On a whim (ie the only repeated problem lately being with Google Desktop) I deleted all google desktop files, which seemed to recreate themselves after i had trashed 'em, or would not trash.

Mac works fine now and i realise it's performance was slowing for some time. Co-oncidence ? Maybe ! But given other comments just be wary of this app.  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

JOHNNY ROCKET  I'm starting to really hate Google. The google desktop completely bogs down my system when it wants to index something. I have a new iMac 20" with 2GB of RAM, it shouldn't get bogged down. But google desktop managed to do it. I found at one point it was indexing my external drive that has about 65GB of data stored on it. I told g.d. to not index it and it said it would delete the index. It actually deleted all 65GB of my data and now the drive is unreadable. Thanks a lot google!  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

KANKEI71  This is a real crap. As said previously, It installs a lot of things that uselessly keep your CPU working. This is a total useless application that was originally created for PC. Don't install this in your Mac.  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

JOHNNY ROCKET  this version only took about 3 hours to index my computer instead of the ~24 hours it took on the previous version I tried out. now to test it out....  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

BDOBBS  An avid Google fan, I was excited to see that they had finally begun to offer Google Desktop for the Mac. I don't like Spotlight because it doesn't understand Boolean logic and suffers from Apple's crippling focus on computer-ignorant consumers.

My hopes came true: Google Desktop beats Spotlight like a redheaded mule on every count. It's slick (double-command invocation? rad, but I changed it, because I often absentmindedly tap command), it's beautiful and it *just works* on my MBP Core Duo 2.16, 2gb.

Where Google Desktop ultimately fails miserably is in two areas: "proprietarity" and sneakiness.

"Proprietarity" - For some reason, the propeller-heads at Google decided that every Google Application should be linked to a central "Google Updater" application that tracks the versions of all of them. This is ridiculous. There is no reason this is necessary, it's very un-mac and it gets in the way of updating individual Google Applications. I want it to be simple to control each individual application. I DON'T want some weird additional app shoved down my throat. That bugs me a lot, but most users probably won't care.

Sneakiness - A lot of people have complained about the vast array of background processes that Google Desktop craps up your machine with. It's completely reprehensible on Google's part that this occurs, but it's tolerable because they each present a very modest CPU load. True, during the initial indexing the CPU load is high, but who doesn't expect that in a search application? What, do you want instant indexing? Give it a decade or two.

Bottom line: Google Desktop does some annoying stuff that makes me want to punch someone in the face, but it's FAR superior to a vastly slower, ultimately crippled Spotlight. Comparing it to other search/launcher apps is, I believe, unfair because few others focus on the specific needs Google is focusing on.  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

ADFASDFASDFASDF  BEWARE of installing this crap. It's useless, ok, BUT you won't get rid of all the background processes that are installed stealthily and that keep on running even if you but this garbage where it belongs. It took me DAYS to find out what was going on behind the curtain and entirely send this b...s... down the toilet.  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

TUISHIMI  I can't provide a thorough review, but I will say this, the indexing is happening much more quickly than previous versions. They also fixed my install issues.

So far, so good. I haven't seen any mdimport crashes.

It is indexing between 70 and 100 files per second on my mac mini.  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

HOTFREAKS  Anyone try today's update? I got rid of it due to its unreasonable resource utilization, but miss having my gmail available offline. If its better, I will give it another shot.  
(Version 1.0.3.301)

ZO219  Have never seen anything install so many items in so many different places ... and the damn thing is always on the alert, even if you set it not to be. Tried blocking its calls out with LIttle Snitch ... but finally? With Spotlight and Easy Find (and others) ... who really needs this bloat?

Unless you want to include your Gmail ... after the novelty wore off, this experienced user trashed it.   
(Version 1.0.1.126)

JOHNNY ROCKET  OMFG! at times this was using over 50% CPU, on a core 2 duo. I've uninstalled this hog  
(Version 1.0.1.126)

RODKNOCKER  @JESS2006: and why?

Mac OS X 10.2 and Mac OS X 10.3 doesnt have Spotlight  
(Version 1.0.1.126)

JESS2006  Search across computer is not a feature of Google Desktop for the Mac.   
(Version 1.0.1.126)

SHERMAN  And you've polled every other user? Thanks for the advice, but of course I've restarted the machine. And I've tried to determine if there are any interactions with other applications.

Yes, this is my experience. And I'm sharing it with others. If it's not a problem on your machine, that's just wonderful for you. But this *is* beta software, and I think reporting issues here that others may experience is worthwhile. Notice I didn't give it a bad review because of this.

And yes, I've reported it to Google tech support too.  
(Version 1.0.1.126)

HONEST JOHN  This message is being sent to Computer Support Coordinators (CSCs) and System Administrators for appropriate action and to Campus Administrators, Deans, and Directors for information and action.

WHAT IS HAPPENING

The latest version of Google Desktop contains a new feature called "Search Across Computers" that raises serious security and privacy concerns for University faculty, students and staff.

With Google Desktop 3's "Search Across Computers" enabled, Google stores copies of certain user files on Google's own servers, allowing a user to search for her files through Google from another computer.

"Search Across Computers" transfers and stores on its own servers copies of web history files (from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, and Mozilla), Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, and text files in the "My Documents" folder whenever a user opens or edits them.

This feature poses a serious security risk because confidential or personal data can be sent to and stored on Google's servers unless the function to omit certain files from the transfer is accurately configured.

Under University policy, those who have confidential or personal data--or information vital to the interests of the University--on their computers must ensure that only authorized individuals can access that information. See Business and Finance Bulletin, IS-3, Electronic Information Security, Section IV, Risk Assessment, Sensitivity, and Criticality.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Before using Google's "Search Across Computers" function, members of the University community should carefully consider their responsibility to protect confidential and personal information, and the potential for that information to be accessed by others when transmitted to and stored on Google's servers.

Please contact the individual or group that provides your desktop computing support if you have questions or want to disable the Google Desktop 3 "Search Across Computers" feature.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Additional information about "Search Across Computers" is available at:

* Electronic Frontier Foundation, Google Copies Your Hard Drive - Government Smiles in Anticipation: http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_02.php#004400 .

* Technical White Paper from University of Michigan's IT Security group, Security considerations of Google Desktop (PDF): http://safecomputing.umich.edu/tools/download/gd_security.pdf

* Gartner, Manage Google's Desktop Search Now or Lock It Out: http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=137896

* ZDNet UK, Google admits Desktop security risk: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39253447,00.htm

* Google Desktop, Search Across Computers: http://desktop.google.com/features.html#searchremote  
(Version 1.0.1.126)

SHERMAN  Uggg... this update has really messed up the activition trigger for me. Even though it's set to the default (Apple+Apple), all sorts of double-presses will now activate Google (Esc+Esc, etc.). Google, please fix this!  
(Version 1.0.1.126)

COPILOTO  It seems people get upset because their computers get sluggish while GDesktop indexes their files for some time; they have no patience and then trash it. Some people are bashing GDesktop without even trying it! I don't understand why having the option of using GDesktop is bad -- these apps are tools for the job: if they work for you, great. If they don't, uninstall them and move on.

I've been using GDesktop since it was released and I find it a joy -- in fact, it became indispensable. It is NOT a replacement to Quicksilver (I still use it and love it), but it is much better and faster than Spotlight. The snippets help a lot when searching for files, as well as being able to search my web history and gmail. It is unobtrusive and the shortcut works perfectly.

I hope that in future versions, Google integrates GDesktop with its other apps such as Docs, GCalendar, and maybe Reader. Thank you for the app!  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

JESS2006  I had some trouble originally because I had Mailtags installed and mdimport was constantly crashing.

But found out from Google that the problem was a bad importer from Mailtags. Deleted the old importer from /Library/Spotlight and now everything just works. It's great!   
(Version 1.0.0.155)

TASKMAN  If you verify the receipts for GoogleDesktop.pkg and GoogleModLoader.pkg, which is what the guys at Ars Technica should have done in first place rather than just trusting John Gruber, you will notice that no files are actually installed in the main System folder.

The mdimport binary is not part of Google Desktop, but of Apple's operating system. On my machine it is dated Jan 2006, way before Google Desktop came out. Also, its manual page can be found on ADC.

The tool itself is actually much faster than Spotlight, completing a test search in about 3 seconds while Apple's tool took about 20.

I also have no processes sucking all my resources, or any of the problems which the other people on MacUpdated reported. Good job boys. :)  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

LMP  It turns out that Google Desktop has a very naughty installer. Source: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/05/google-desktop-comes-with-junk-in-the-trunk  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

DANA SUTTON  Unlike Spotlight, Google Desktop's cataloguing isn't done gracefully in the background or when the computer is idling. This morning my computer was very unresponsive, andccording to Activity Monitor it was trying to use 100% of my processor power. As soon as I quit and trashed GD, my Mac returned to normal.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

DCKNOWLES  I installed this and Firefox wouldn't start up--it just quit before completely loading the home page. But Firefox was fine again when I UNinstalled Google desktop.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

PERPLEXITY  I love the Google.com Integration. Google Desktop is my home page and I just open my browser to search something. Sweet and easy :)  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

AMALGAMATED INC  worked fine for me. will probably use it instead of spotlight which tends to 'hang' with input in the search box.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

RAMPANCY  I had the exact same problem Migrant had. Until this issue gets resolved I simply can't use or recommend this.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

MIGRANT  After installing and letting it start indexing for a while, I had mdimport crashing every few seconds until I ripped out every single file the GD installer installed according to the description on Daring Fireball. Still willing to try the next release, since being able to search my hd, the Web and my gmail account through one interface could be handy.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

SHERMAN  After 4-5 hours I had only 2000 or so files indexed. Something's not right. I guess it really is still beta!  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

HEAVY_SHOWER  Thanks -- I'll have re-download and reinstall everything just to gain access to the uninstaller?? I thought I got rid of everything, but after running Activity Monitor, something is still lurking inside, something called GoogleDesktopDae -- but I can't find it anywhere.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

MHAR  Fantastic. Way way better than Spotlight, which is practically useless. Searching for text phrases is at last possible on a Mac.   
(Version 1.0.0.155)

MACNERD1984  It's nice that Google are finally starting to bring this to the Mac but personally Spoltlight seems to do whatever I need. I realise that it does not index some files that others need it to so I am sure Google works for them though. I found the Google search window to be un-necessarily huge and cumbersome, while Spotlight lives quietly an unobtrusively in my menu bar. You can add Google to your menu bar but it has no search field there - It's just a menu based short cut to opening the app.

Google Desktop's original intention was for Winblows users who were justifiably unwilling to suffer that OS' embarassingly bad search, so there was a real improvement to be had. With OS X it seems the gap is considerably slimmer. Either way though, I take the arrival of Google Desktop to be a very positive thing for the Mac and hopefully it will make Windows switchers feel a little more comfortable and make it easier for them to get used to our OS.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

HEAVY_SHOWER  it may show itself as efficient, but it was using quite a lot of CPU (the animations in my solitaire game were choppy). Wish Google provided an uninstaller 'cuz there were many associated files involved -- I may have missed something.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

YURA ZAKALYUZHNY  I am confused with different results I've got. It started to index my home iMac Core2Duo hard disk yesterday and haven't finished it yet, for more than a day now. At the same time, my office machine (Core Duo mini) was indexed yesterday in a less than an hour while it hosts far less files.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

MATHIAS  http://daringfireball.net/2007/04/google_desktop_installer  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

MAC5  Google Desktop indexed my HD in quick time.. I was nicely surprised at how effective and accurate this application is. The way it presents the results of a search is also well presented and easily understood.

Anyone who uses the net will find the search method, and results very familiar.

Provided this application is updated, it should be readily adopted by the Mac community at large.

Early days yet, but no problems encountered at this time. I for one use Google as my search engine of first choice when searching on the net.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

AZSADER80  There's a little Spotlight plug-in called Google Importer 1.01 that searches Google along with Spotlight. This seems like an easier way to add this functionality. Do you really need your HD indexed twice?  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

SHERMAN  Is it just my system or is this thing really slow indexing? Like 2-3 files per minute. At this rate it'll take days to index my entire drive.   
(Version 1.0.0.155)

SMOKEONIT  works well and indexes all file types...

so far i couldnt make out a file format that is not searchable, pdf, .doc and all the others are easy to search....  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

SJJ_PUBLIC  I installed it, but it says my hard drive can't be indexed, and so it never finds anything. Also the web search thing wasn't what I expected and isn't too impressive. It isn't integrated at all - It just does the search in your browser. i.e. it's like many useless search widgets that do the same thing.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

D0112358  Actually, even though I was thinking the same thing, Google Desktop seems more complete than spotlight. For example, I can't have spotlight search my Adium logs because there's no plugin available but they easily showed up in Google Desktop. Also, I like how there's a text preview of all your search results to better investigate them. The program also seems to try to be an app launcher as well and does a pretty good job as it seems to put applications at the top of search results for quick launching. The indexing does take up a lot of time and cpu but that's really all it is. I actually did uninstall the program but I think I'll try it for a while.  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

PEEJAVERY  Google Desktop = Spotlight + Web search capability. For once, I think Google is not on top of things. Why release it?  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

STAR-AFFINITY  The "GoogleDesktopDae" daemon every other five soconds eat about 30% to 50% processing power on the MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2, 3 Ghz with 2 GB RAM I have. Fans start to make noise.

Is it indexing perhaps?

Think I will remove it for now...  
(Version 1.0.0.155)

ERIC CALDWELL  I don't get it.. Spotlight is a great tool with good add-on support. Why release or use this over Spotlight?  
(Version 1.0.0.155)