Steve’s Stuff

The new Google desktop has been released: Desktop grows up.

Unfortunately, the problem with voice mail being marked as read continues in this version.

Google

Is Google overvalued and overhyped?
With Google, the opportunities may seem boundless to some. However, when we
compare those opportunities to what we believe are realistic outcomes, we believe Google is changing a small part of the world, not the globe.
Morningstar.com - A Voice of Reason on Google

It’s being reported that Google, possibly with Comcast, will be buying a chunk of AOL. This falls on the heels of the news that Microsoft will be working more closely with Yahoo and rumors that Microsoft might be buying into AOL.

So it was really all about the JRE/toolbar bundle? No Office suite from us - Google | The Register

How disappointing. I hate it when Dvorak is right.

Google Office

It’s good when a professor at Wharton finds himself agreeing with me.

“What Google wants to do is strategically decrease people’s reliance on Microsoft. It’s as simple as that,” says Wharton management professor Raphael Amit. Why Is Microsoft Afraid of Google? - Knowledge@Wharton

Despite the vague content of and tepid reception to the Google/Sun announcement (a toolbar, for goodness sakes), I think there’s something long term to it. Google wants to rule the world, but not in any evil way.

John Dvorak, of course, disagrees.

Newsweek has a story about how Google is moving in on Microsoft’s traditional turf, the Windows desktop.
How long before your use Google Write or Google Calc, applications that live in your web browser, not on your desktop and not licensed from Microsoft, as your word processor and spreadsheet?

Typically, Microsoft has not let this pass unnoticed. Steve Ballmer (aka Monkey Boy), Microsoft CEO, has vowed to “… kill Google”. An empty threat? Maybe. But the streets are littered with the remains of those who dared steal Microsoft’s fire.

I’m back to Copernic from Google Desktop. As I wrote a few days ago, I like the Google Sidebar, but I ran into Outlook related problems. First, when the new GDS indexed mail, Outlook removed the little envelope icon in the system tray that indicates new mail has arrived. Second (and more important), our voicemail system is integrated with Outlook. As GDS indexed mail on this IMAP account, new voicemails were marked as read. I could live with this within Outlook, but the integration is such that it also turns off the red light on my phone that indicates I have voicemail. It was quite a surprise to find 10 unheard messages! (My apologies if one was yours.)

So, my current personal recommendation for a desktop search tool is Copernic Desktop Search.

Copernic

IBM is working on a system described in this Infoworld article that looks through vendor records, warranty claims, weblogs, bulletin boards, and repair records to produce an early warning system for Navistar.

My favorite quote: “If you want to do analysis of unstructured textual data, the problem you have to deal with is that English, as people write it and speak it, is truly unstructured,” said Larry Lieberman, IBM Research’s automotive program leader. “This [software] is not just searching for words, it’s getting a semantic understanding of phrases and sentences.”

This will be a powerful tool for Navistar and a shining example of what can be done to take advantage of the information tsunami.

The New York Times notes Relax, Bill Gates; It’s Google’s Turn as the Villain.

My favorite quote:
Bill Gates certainly sees similarities between Google and his own company. This spring, in an interview with Fortune, Mr. Gates, Microsoft’s chairman, said that Google was “more like us than anyone else we have ever competed with.”

In this article, you can find out how to talk on Google’s new chat service:smash’s world: I’m on Google Talk right now. _ the offical homepage of Ben Guild (smash).

Say hello… I’m “sdstern” there.

If you don’t have GAIM (my recommend IM client — it handles MSN, AOL, Yahoo, and Google), you can get the Google Talk client here. It appears that the Google Talk client also includes VOIP.