Why bother upgrading the software in the first place? Linux sucks. It should be cast into a black hole along with all those spotty, sweaty, fat, nerdy linux freaks who are going to post here saying things like "what do you think the internet runs on?". God, they are so boring.

Okay, I know it's possible, but how many linux users are actually going to have microsoft office documents on their machines that they need google desktop to search through?

Surely open office is more likely, or maybe star office?

Quote: "Google has updated its desktop for Linux ...you can search and launch applications, and search within Microsoft Office documents."

Yeah? Like I've got a load of Microsoft Office stuff on my Ubuntu box.

Part of the reason for ditching Windows for Linux was to get away from money-grabbing closed-shop monoliths such as Microsoft, Adobe and Google. Besides, I suspect most 'nix users have enough experience with directory structures to know where their data is without having to Google the localhost to find it.

Hey Ex Pat - Crawl back to the eighties you troll.

Linux is the not only the future of the Desktop...it is here and now.

Microsoft will one day no longer be the OS of the masses...they will contribute to the Linux OS and create software applications for Linux...oh wait, they already do.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-02MSNovellPR.mspx

'nuff said.

I dunno about many linux fanbois, but I for one recognise the fact that the world outside of linux uses microsoft office, and that if I want to interact with them I need to be willing to bridge that gap. I get word documents all the time from people, and I need to be able to work with them regardless of the fact that I'm using Ubuntu.

What am I going to do, say I don't accept word docs? Great way to lose clients.

I like being able to work on documents at home and then transport them to work. Do I want to convert to and from MS Word format every time? No, so I just pick one format and carry on as usual. If you don't like a feature then don't use it, chill out people.

@Ex Pat:

It's not your money. While it's still legal Google can do what they like. Moreover, as Google runs on Linux arguably their just helping the cause a bit, they're giving a bit back.

@Steve:

Much as I would like everyone to send me stuff meeting ISO 26300 (.odt - .ods - .odp - .odg) unfortunately it's not happening yet. And sometimes you can't just send them back.

@Sceptical Bastard

a) see above

b) if we want to welcome less technical people to the wonderful world of <your favourite distro> using <your favourite GUI> then they're less likely to have a clue as to what you are talking about and may find Google desktop helpful. And that would be a Good Thing.

Why indeed?

Now how do I find stuff? Oooh! "find" Now how clever is that?

spyware for linux? =/

This is great!! They are making more stuff for Linux.

Most of Google's "People" run Linux btw. Besides their server clusters.

>> What am I going to do, say I don't accept word docs? Great way to lose clients.

Charge slightly more for the windows support/ms office document jumping hoop tricks; clear price lists and comparisons would give your clients an incentive but allow you to keep within the competition for the "standard" proprietary stuff.

@ Ex Pat (ExTREMELY PatHETIC?)

i think i can speak for all "linux freaks" when i say:

FLAME FLAME FLAME flamety-FLAME flame Micro$oft FLAME The Great Evil FLAME flame flame Bill Gate$ FLAME FLAME burn in Hell flame FLAME Satan flame wibble arrrgh bark ROARRRR!

and furthermore:

lurv LURV (sick twisted obsessive) LURRRV Saint Google lurv LURV David and Larry lurv Tux lurv LURV The Prophet Linus LURV lurv lurv FSF LURV Open Source LURV lurv Stallman lurv lurv LURV The Great Horned God GNU lurv slobber cuddle smooch warm-fuzzy AWWWWW!

be that as it may, i'll stick with what works for me (Linux/*BSD/OS X), thanks. over 20 years of experience supporting MS products (just had to deal with their latest excretion, Vista Home, this past weekend, for my sister-in-law), ranging from embedded devices to datacenter AD/middleware, drove me to the dark side. i need and want something that works like an appliance (think microwave); i have no time to tweak (registry hacking is such fun), massage, update (MS OS), update (AV), update (antimalware), reboot, reboot, beg and cajole, just to keep the box operational.

i am NOT trying to persuade you to switch to anything. PLEASE stay right where you are (on Windows), and do not pollute your mind with useless facts. the longer everyone else takes to get into my area of expertise, the less competition i have, the more experience and knowledge i will acquire, the less competition i will have in the future. MS fanboys shouting their belligerent ignorance to the world are good for me.

carry on.

@Ex Pat -

I'm not spotty, sweaty, fat, nerdy or anything else. I have the pleasure in life of using Windows, Linux, Mac and VM installs. My home OS of choice is Linux simply because I don't have to worry about viruses, Patch Tuesday or MS secretly updating my machine when I don't want it, or have even disallowed it but it happens anyway.

At work I use Mac - I'm a recent convert - and I have to say it's true, stuff does "just work".

Linux isn't perfect but it -is- better than Windows and anyone with any half-decent technical skills should be able to realise that.

On the original topic, I have a decent directory structure to so I know where to find my resume and my pr0n without Google helping me :-)

Instead of idiots posting what amounts to "Linux is for geeks only" or "I won't use this there fore its crap" could someone with spare time actually try it out and see what its like?

I agree it would be nice if it supported more formats than MS office (and its not specifed as far as i can see if that includes the new docx format), but its still a nice idea - personally I think its unlikely I would use this unless it really would save me significant time but would be nice to see what others thought of this in practice.

And by the way - I care more about door to door salesmen than I care about whether some random poster prefers Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, OS2, or whatever. I suspect many share this viewpoint - so why not leave those comments out of here and share them with your friends/partner/co-workers instead?

Oh and no stop would be complete without a carry on!

Linux really isn't geek any longer.

I've now installed Linux on several machines for myself (two desktops and a laptop) and a few relatives desktops. On every one it has Just Worked (tm)", the network devices were setup, ready and online at the first boot, it just worked, sound drivers, just worked, no drivers to install at all (Ok, the 3d card needs one, but it asks you, you click ok, and its installed :O)

9 Minutes to install Ubuntu Feisty on my machine here when I had boot the live cd (add about 2mins more for that to load), that was sound, graphics, network all running, Open Office and Gimp (Microsoft Ofiice and Photoshop comparable programs) all installed and ready in that 9 minutes.

My wife and mother both find gnome on Ubuntu far easier to use than they did windows XP and so do I. Which is easier to use? Which is faster and less hassle to install? I know which I think it is, and practical experince has lead me there, give up the ill informed stereotyping and just try it and give it a fair go, if it doesn't suit you, at least you tried it and probably became a lot more informed.

I'm not a fanboy, but I get fed up people without a clue spouting nonsense (and yes I know its the internets)

I am neither fat ,nor spotty or sweaty and far to old to be a nerd,and if I am a fan -Register- I am an fanoldboy!

There you are sitting behind your rotting apples waiting for another lock down,spied on by vista if you dare install it, rootkitted by sony,crippled by yellow resellers in terror of big ballmer.

I have a core 2 duo lap top laptop which was rendered almost useless by vista, and restricted by resellers fear of M$ and not daring to supply Linux drivers/

i have never had any problem installing or using Linux in all flavours,If you can read and type English you can change anything you want,-you cant even get vista to understand that you might want to change anything.

I used to like Vista. the landscape generating Amiga programme, I refuse to accept M$ blatant theft of the name.

MS Office files are almost unavoidable if one has any contact with commercial or academic environments. So, on my Linux box I've got IBM's office effort, Lotus Symphony.

Open Office is, hard to believe, even slower and more bloated than MS Office. Symphony doesn't suck quite as hard as Open Office. Never tried Star Office, but I hear it's an Open Office derivative, so not hopeful.

I do wish everyone would go back to using plain ASCII, like God intended us to do. Ex: RFC documents are often not simple but they are expressed quite nicely in ASCII.

How am I supposed to take "find" seriously when it doesn't even have a dog wagging its tail?

I think some people just like evoking reactions.

Maybe they are depressed at being a fat, nerdy, boring, troll, so they try and take it out on Linux folk. Linux has nothing to do with geeks any more. I installed it easily, just finding bit torrent difficult to use on it./...Other wise 1000's of free programs for practically any need out there (office to scanning software).

Ex Pat don't worry. One day you'll have enough spare time in your busy schedule to try something new.

Oh wait, you can do that right now!

Love the troll my man. you've derailed the entire discussion - you've even got me doing it! capital.

Until Linux/Unix ceases to be the main Internet email server platform or Microsoft the main virus platform I'm going to have to continue virus scanning Microsoft formatted documents attached to emails going through lists supported on my Linux server. Not that Windows viruses infect me, just my users who have not upgraded to a virus-free platform yet, and I don't want my mail server to replicate their viruses when it replicates their list messages.

So yes, many Linux systems do have Microsoft-formatted documents on them, because Microsoft users need to be able to communicate with each other, and what they use on their desktops doesn't function well as an Internet server platform. However, the more Windows users can be encouraged to use standardised documentation formats (e.g. by automatically blocking oversized and virus-carrying emails) the better life is for everyone, including those using older versions of Windows.

I don't understand how anybody would bother with Google Desktop for Linux - don't Beagle and Tracker both other the same (if not better) functionality?

Google Desktop for Mac OS X makes equally as little sense, as OS X already ships with Spotlight.

Pointless, really.