The Gamer's Quarter

dhex

Elizabeth: this is something we can def talk about more tonight, but do u know anything about that google feature that you can search the content of docs on your harddrive and if it's 1) safe 2) mac freidnly 3) not a complete pain in the ass?
me: uh
the google desktop?
Elizabeth: i guess...
me: don't run on macs
Elizabeth: oh
me: hmm
Elizabeth: that sucks
11:35 AM me: i will ask the spacebrain however
Elizabeth: awesome
who the hell is that
matt?
11:37 AM me: no
the internet
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dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

apple+F, click the left tab, select "contents"
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dhex · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:01 am Post subject:

i think she's looking for something a bit more complicated to help write her dissertation.

some folks have suggested the 10.4 spotlight feature, but she has 10.3 and a 12" ibook. dunno if that's safe or if we're gonna rue this shit hardcore.
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ApM · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:58 pm Post subject:

I'm guessing Sherlock violates the "complete pain in the ass" rule?

dhex · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:27 pm Post subject:

i'll find out tonight. at least i have some leads. thanks, spacebrain!
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I'm kind of curious as to how "safe" google desktop is myself.

Also I feel I should mention this somewhere here: http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/ (windoze)
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The Great Unwashed · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:16 pm Post subject:

Google Desktop is a violently retarded idea in general. Take that, my computer's built-in search function! I download something from the internet to supersede you!

At any rate, Spotlight wins, for Macs. Sherlock's "Blind Grope" style search is annoying and terrible.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I really don't like spotlight, but I don't have a lot of documents to search through and more often I can't remember what it is I'm looking for (only have vague clues) so forming query strings is impossible.

The main problem is that once Apple moves into a space with OSX features, most of the third party software development in the field dies out (see: software music players), and this is true for Desktop Search too.

Don't use Google Desktop. Don't. It takes an index of all the documents on your hard drive and uploads it to their servers. Don't trust anyone with that kind of access to your data remotely, not Google, not anyone. There are other desktop search solutions (for windows), but the only one I've heard good things about is X1 which is commercial.

Honestly if you save files in a plaintext format (read: not Word Docs), you could just teach yourself how to use Terminal.app and grep(1). That's what I use when I'm looking for something in chat logs.

Also! The term I've always heard is either "the lazyweb" or "the great oracle". "spacebrain" is a new one.
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dhex · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:32 pm Post subject:

well she needs to search pdfs and word docs, since that's the bulk of her stuff. i guess 10.4 here we come.
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AJ 187 · . Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 22 Location: Chicago

thatbox · . Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 99 Location: nashville / nola

Quicksilver does this, I think!
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