Google to create desktop search feature

Google announced the development of a desktop based search tool that sounds an awful lot like the plans for Microsoft’s new operating system Longhorn. Due to be released in early-mid 2006, the Longhorn operating system is said to fully integrate search with the O/S, making any file your computer has ever accessed a searchable document. These files would include items from your hard drive, corporate Intranet and the common Internet. The idea behind the move was to a) create a better operating system that allows users to find information from a far greater range of documents, and b) to take large amounts of market share away from other (non-MS) search tools. Google is trying to counter this threat by introducing its own desktop based system that will have similar features to those found in Longhorn. According to today’s technology section of the New York Times which broke this story, the new software is being code named “Puffin”. (subscription to NYTimes required) As Google made this announcement this morning, there has (thus far) been no response from Microsoft.