daringfireball.net — Google Desktop is a slick, easy-to-use piece of software, but it lacks anything like the Show Files feature of Apple?s installer. There?s no way to tell what files it?s going to install, or where. This matters with Google Desktop, because there are a lot of files, and they?re installed into some interesting ? if not suspicious ? locations.
Apr 4, 2007 View in Crawl 4
legolover64Apr 4, 2007
No thanks.I'm all Quicksilver, baby.
estvirApr 4, 2007
Poor Google, it's getting no love from Tiger or Vista.
adc86Apr 4, 2007
Yeah, kinda fishy. Absolute power corrupts absolutely; in other words, you just don't get that big without getting at least a little evil on you.
deadsenatorApr 4, 2007
@northernmunkeyAre you *sure* you deleted it??? It would be wise to check again.
Closed AccountApr 5, 2007
1) open quicksilver preferences2) click on command on the left side3) on the command window check "Modifier-only Activation"4) select "Double" from the drop down to the right of "Modifier-only Activation"5) select "Command" from the drop down next to "Double"there, quicksilver now acts like google desktop and you didnt have to install anything other than quicksilver
jdandreaApr 5, 2007
As I understand it, apps aren't contractually obligated to use the Mac Installer GUI. Indeed, if I look in /Library/Receipts I see GoogleDesktop.pkg and GoogleModLoader.pkg - evidence of a standard install behind the scenes. Uninstall is also possible, natch.Inside each receipt lies an Archive.bom (Bill of Materials) file that reveals every file that gets installed, down to the owner and permissions (use an app like Pacifst or the Apple-supplied lsbom to view).Fun trivia: Receipts and - more specifically - BOMs help inform MacOS file permission/ownership repair.(JG has been advised and the post has been updated. Yay!)
jimvApr 5, 2007
"I won’t install software like this on my main machine without knowing everything that’s going to be installed."I wonder where the author of this article buys his tinfoil hats.
themacthinkerApr 5, 2007
This really stinks. Why is Google so shady about their installer? Is google trying to fish users and beyond the internet to own your computers information?EVERYONE PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH FOR MAC.
ilgazApr 5, 2007
Input Managers aren't essentially bad if user is notified about installation, they have built in sanity checks and clever to disable themselves when OS updated or safe boot enabled.Also one click easy uninstall/disable is a must.The Unsanity , a little shareware company does all these things, why wouldn't Google?