Key facts
- Developer
- Initial release
- October 14, 2004 ; 21 years ago ( 2004-10-14 )
- Final release
- 5.9.1005.12335 / 14 September 2011 ; 14 years ago ( 2011-09-14 )
- Written in
- C++
- Operating system
- Cross-platform
- Type
- Desktop search
- License
- Proprietary
- Website
- desktop.google.com
via Wikipedia infobox
~16 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Google Desktop was a computer program with desktop search capabilities, created by Google for Linux, Apple Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows systems. It allowed text searches of a user's email messages, computer files, music, photos, chats, web pages viewed, and the ability to display "Google Gadgets" on the user's desktop in a sidebar.
In September 2011, Google announced it would discontinue a number of its products, including Google Desktop. The reason given was that "In the last few years, there's been a huge shift from local to cloud-based storage and computing, as well as the integration of search and gadget functionality into most modern operating systems. People now have instant access to their data, whether online or offline. As this was the goal of Google Desktop, the product will be discontinued."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Google Desktop” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.