Google launched yesterday the Google Desktop beta – this is a search application which you install on your PC (PC only) and access through your (Internet Explorer only) browser.

It has the familiar Google appearance but there is a new button to allow you search the desktop or the web.

Click image to enlarge.

The app has a number of shortcomings – it is Internet Explorer only on Windows XP or Windows 2000 (SP3+) only. Also, the search doesn’t index PDF files yet.

In fairness to Google, when I tested the app on my Virtual PC, it worked a treat – finding relevant documents in both the filesystem and the web cache quickly! Google also say in their About page that “If there’s a format you’d like Google Desktop Search to be able to search, please let us know”

I have a few suggestions I’ll be making to them and will watch this app’s development with great interest.

UPDATE – Google Desktop Search is IE only for its installation. Once it is installed, you can use it from Firefox just as well as IE – just go to the Google website in Firefox and click on the Desktop button – simple as that.