Dear Google
Friday, October 15, 2004 at 4:48PM INFO TECHNOLOGY: Some random thoughts for Google:
1) Gmail: I want a program that I can install on my local machine that will be the default mail client. When I click on a mailto link, it'll open up a new browser window that will automatically pull up the Gmail compose screen with the addressee specified. This could be a killer app that gives you a huge benefit over Yahoo and Hotmail. And honestly I'm sick of Outlook trying to make me go through the goddamn wizard every time I click on a mailto.
2) Google Desktop: this is cool, but it's not cool enough yet. I want to be able to search not just my Internet Explorer history, but my Firefox history too. And why did you make it search my Outlook emails but not my Gmail emails? You are Gmail, remember?
Also, why can't I click on the folder of a found file rather then just the file itself? Browsers are already equipped to do local file browsing, so this seems like a no-brainier. And why isn't G.D. cataloging the tags of my mp3s and images, etc.? Lastly, it'd be really cool if I could put G.D. on all of my home computers and then have a search for a local file show me the results aggregated.
Overall, it's a great idea... But it's a bit simple at the moment to be really that useful. I'm still waiting for that killer app that links Google to my local machine, and still not quite seeing it.
Update: I just went to submit feedback to the Google Desktop program and found this message:
We're working hard on adding new features and capabilities to Google Desktop Search, and we want to know what you think. If the feature you'd like us to add is included in the list below, you can vote for it by selecting it and clicking 'Submit.' If not, select 'Other' and send us a brief description.
Index .pdfs
Index audio files
Support Mozilla Firefox
Partial word searches
Search folder names
Support more chat programs
More than 10 results per page
Add Desktop Search button to Google Toolbar
Update: Thanks for the tips everyone! I'll be trying out the plug-ins later today.
Reader Comments (3)
Jeez Julio do you even http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dgmail%2Bcompose%2Bto%26sourceid%3Dfirefox%26start%3D0%26start%3D0%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8">use google anymore?
The first 2 links are what you are looking for so get to it. As for your second request I hear ya.
-pillo
Check out the http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Ftoolbar.google.com%2Fgmail-helper%2F">gmail notifier for your first point. It sits in the systray and checks your mail. You can right click click on it and open up your inbox. It also captures mailto: links and opens a new window for use with gmail. It works with firefox.
http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slaad.com">Lucas
The http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Ftoolbar.google.com%2Fgmail-helper%2F">gmail notifier from Google does mailto: binding.