Desktop search

Desktop Search Technologies - Most desktop search engines build and maintain an index database to improve performance. - Indexing usually takes place when the computer is idle. - Voidtools Everything Search Engine can build its index from scratch in a few seconds. - Vegnos Desktop Search Engine performs searches over filenames and file contents without building indices. - Real-time indexing functions have been developed to provide up-to-date search results. Benefits of Desktop Search - Desktop search tools help users sift through desktop files, emails, attachments, and more. - They allow users to find information on their own PC, including web browser history, e-mail archives, text documents, sound files, images, and video. - Large firms are concerned about untapped productivity and security due to unstructured data stored on users' PCs. - Up to 80% of some companies' data is locked up inside unstructured data. - Companies often have structured or unstructured information stored in older file formats that they don't have ready access to. Microsoft vs. Google - Desktop search attracted considerable attention during the struggle between Microsoft and Google. - Both companies attempted to leverage their monopolies to strengthen their dominance. - Google complained that users of Windows Vista couldn't choose any competitors' desktop search program over the built-in one. - An agreement was reached between the US Justice Department and Microsoft to enable users to choose between the built-in and other desktop search programs. - Google ended life for Google Desktop in September 2011. Windows Desktop Search - Indexing Service, released in August 1996, was replaced by Windows Desktop Search (WDS) in 2003. - WDS brought content indexing to all Microsoft files and text-based formats. - WDS introduced instant searching, allowing users to see results as they typed. - Windows Search 3.1, released with Windows Vista, could search through both indexed and non-indexed locations seamlessly. - Windows Search 4.0 is currently running on all PCs with Windows 7 and up. Mac OS Desktop Search - AppleSearch, introduced in 1994, allowed users to search all documents within their Macintosh computer. - Sherlock, released in 1997, extended desktop search to the World Wide Web. - Sherlock was included in every release of Mac OS from Mac OS 8 before being replaced by Spotlight and Dashboard in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. - Spotlight, released with Mac OS X, is the current desktop search tool for Mac OS. - AppleSearch had large resource requirements, including at least a 68040 processor and 5MB of RAM. Linux desktop search options - Wide range of desktop search options available for Linux users - Options depend on the skill level and preferences of the user - Options include desktop tools, command-shell functionality, and browser-based interfaces - Users can create their own indexing using various packages - Popular search commands include 'find' and 'locate' Ubuntu desktop search - Ubuntu Linux didn't have desktop search until release Feisty Fawn 7.04 - Tracker desktop search tool was introduced in Ubuntu - Tracker provided basic file sorting and meta-data matching - Support for searching through emails and instant messages was added - Recoll was later added to Linux distributions, expanding search capabilities openSUSE desktop search - NEPOMUK was introduced in openSUSE with KDE4 - NEPOMUK allowed indexing of desktop content and email - Semantic web technologies like RDF were used to annotate the database - User feedback led to the replacement of NEPOMUK with the Baloo framework - Baloo is based on Xapian and addresses indexing and search performance issues See also - List of desktop search engines - Additional resources and tools for desktop search References - Brian Madden's blogpost on desktop search in VDI and RDSH - Anthony Ha's article on Lookeen, a search tool for Outlook users - Robert L. Mitchell's article on X1 Desktop Search 8 - Computer Weekly's special report on data security and desktop search - BBC NEWS article on search wars affecting desktop computers