Google Brings Desktop Search Out Of Beta

There is a running joke about how Google never brings any of their innovations out of the beta stage. The thinking is, if something breaks, Google can always say it was still in beta testing. However, every now and then, Google will actually un-beta something, which happens to be the case with Google's desktop search utility. The search engine incarnate officially launched this past Sunday (an odd day for a major release, don't you think?). New to the official release is GDS's ability to index and search a number of new file types, download plugins and Google's releasing of the desktop search Google also indicates, "We've also made it easier to use Desktop Search by allowing you to access it via a deskbar on your desktop." The deskbar resides on your taskbar, or it float wherever the user sees fit to place it. Another new feature is the inclusion of a privacy option. This simply prevents indexing of Office files which happen to be password protected. Of course, since its beta launch, download GDS here. Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for latest search news.