We've always been Google's stepchildren, us Mac folk. Operating, it would seem, solely as a function of market share, Mac versions of Google software emerge last, as do updates to existing Mac-Google software. Never mind that Mac users are early tech adopters and thought leaders. In the case of software releases, it seems that to Google it's simply a matter of dollars and cents. But let me get to the point.

The paragraph above is to illustrate that we don't get no respect from Google. The one that follows, following this post's title, is to illustrate that we get toxic code instead. Here's the deal.

Eager to have a better Spotlight—maybe even a search engine that would rip through 100 Gig in .0001238448 seconds to find my transcript from HardKnocks U.—with saliva flowing down my cheek, I downloaded Google Desktop for Macintosh several times, several versions, and each time I had to ditch it after a tantalizing couple of weeks that showed me how quick and easy searching could be—if only the software worked.

Disclosure: I haven't downloaded this version. After my experience with prior versions of GD, I'm afraid to. Because not only did prior versions at intervals grind work to a halt, hog memory, and cause kernel panics, but they seemed designed to wreak havoc on a system if ever one tried to remove them. True, I'm a PhD and as a former IT person, I'm most likely lame. But each time I gave up with disgust on Google Desktop, the program just didn't want to die with dignity. First, older versions of GD required Google Updater, a program that seems an inch away from violating privacy, to cleanse your Mac of its Google disease. Second, no matter how well I removed everything Google from my Mac, periodically I'd get dialogs that asked me if I wanted to update software (scary, for me, at least), and, even worse, whenever my machine began to slow down, if I checked with Activity Monitor, invariably it was some Google daemon or process hogging CPU and gobbling up some unreasonable amount of memory. I said to myself, "never again. Even if Google's search function is the sweetest, never again." And so far, my will has remained firm.

Disclosure: I read the first, recent post. Maybe this new version eliminates all the problems I (and others) experienced. Maybe the program and it's children are not poking around your system looking to map your experience; maybe the hogging of space and time and gone. Somehow, even though I love to take risks, my prior experience with GD was so bad that I'm gong to pass on this one. If you happen to read this post and nonetheless use the new GD, please be so kind as to post a quick report. Many of us would love to use a good version of a Google product, and, bedsides, I have no wish to slam Google. Especially when they have meta data on all hard and soft aspects of my life.

Cheers,
Evan Mitchell Stark,
Dr. Evan Stark, PhD
Message Science Inc.