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| Google Desktop for Linux: Why Do We Need It? |
| 摘自: www.madpenguin.org 被阅读次数: 284 |
由 yangyi 于 2007-08-01 19:05:23 提供 |
(Column) - Like many of you, I feel confused in regards to the advantage of using Google Desktop on my Linux PC. After all, if I needed such a thing, Beagle has been readily available for a long time now. And of course, there are also other alternatives to Beagle as well should the need to index your desktop be something that you are interested in. Is Google Faster Than Beagle? In complete fairness, I have not bothered with Beagle since Ubuntu Edgy was hot off the presses. At the time, Beagle was slow, really slow. Because of the method of indexing apparently meant bringing a 1.5GHz system and 1GB of RAM to a crawl, I was forced to abandon it a long time ago. Besides, it was being run on a notebook computer that really did not have enough data stored on it that justified dealing with Beagle. Then I installed Google Desktop on my desktop machine (AMD Athlon 64, 1GB RAM), and as I expected, it was packaged with ready to install DEB and RPM packages. As an added bonus, it also seemed that the app was based (partially, at least) on open source software. Getting back to speed... it's odd, as I'm using this on a different system than Beagle was used to the last time. Regardless, Google Desktop has not slowed down anything whatsoever. At the very least, it is a far cry from the Google Desktop my mom once had running in Windows just a few years ago. Mixing Closed Source + Open Source, Again with the Ever-Changing Linux Platform. I have been saying this for a few years now, but most recently you will have noticed that now, more than ever, closed source and open source are living under the same roof. What was happening to Apple for a very long time is beginning to happen in Windows, and now, even as many people are cringing at the very idea, it is happening in Linux, too. The major difference on the Linux front, however, is that proprietary code is generally an afterthought. Therefore, add-ons, such as EasyUbuntu and Automatix, help get proprietary code onto the Linux system as painless as possible. Many people point out that there have always been restricted repositories that have long since addressed this need. And this is true, until you try to configure the newly installed restricted video driver with zero understanding of what is really involved. The same applies to see Google provide its mixed code software in ready to install packages that meet the needs of the most popular distributions in the market. Besides, if you are not installing from a DEB or RPM package, chances are you are someone who uses a distro where compiling is more commonly a must have for basic configuration anyway. To reiterate, proprietary code is here. And as long as it is not installed by default, I think most of us can live with this change. After all, it is about the choice of easy installation and not forced bundling. Is Google Desktop Really Worth it for the Average Linux User? I think there are three important factors that come into play here. First, do you need to index your desktop content? If not, why even bother with this? Second, are you comfortable with Google's mixed code having a full backstage pass to your computer's contents? Many of us may be, but it is something very serious to consider. And finally, are you running a really low-end PC that uses hardware that is already taxed to the limit? Even though Google Desktop feels lighter than expected with regard to allocating resources, I still cannot help but feel that some poor sap out there running a "lite" distro is going to find himself in a world of hurt despite Google Desktop's ability to index content during idle PC usage. Remember, Linux is not just about choice, it is also about frills-free computing. |
