Google Deskbar Forges A New Desktop Paradigm

CNET reports on the "Google Deskbar" a Windows application that adds itself to the Windows desktop toolbar. The beauty of the application is that it makes search just a few keystrokes away from any desktop app. It's not restricted to just google, in fact you can include many of your favorite information resources. For example, I added this site to the app (i.e. add this url "http://www.manageability.org/search?SearchableText={1}" to custom search). What happens when you select any phrase, key ctrl-c, ctrl-alt-g and enter, presto all related documents!

Google Deskbar melds search and ultimately other kinds of web applications (i.e. thesaurus, stock quotes, spelling etc.) into a more seamless experience in the desktop. However the paradigm shift is that the web application is now the desktop utility.

Mull on this, an application like Zoe ( an application that indexes your own email box and provides it's interface through a personal webserver) is now just a few keystrokes away from any other desktop application. The desktop application is now the web application and vice versa!

The paradigm shift is that personal webservers and their associated applications could ultimately become the predominant form of deployment inside a desktop. Will Iverson made a similar observation in his piece "Create Desktop Applications with Java-Based Web Technologies" and he was almost lynched by a mob of angry readers. Nevertheless, the advantages are pretty clear, the browser is already pretty well integrated with with the desktop and many other applications, why not exploit it rather than restrict oneself to clipboard based integration? The key observation here is that URLs are like APIs and can be exploited as a standard integration technology on the desktop.

Java is in a ideal position to exploit this new paradigm. The availability of java based embeddable HTTP servers, java based databases and search engines, microkernels and web based frameworks makes development much easier. In addition, the open source nature of all of these, make this an economically viable proposition. $29.95 an application isn't out of the question. The portability of the platfom and the consistency of the browser based interface makes this an even more compelling idea. Finally, for icing on the cake, there's a lot of reusability. The app that runs on your desktop could share plenty with the app that runs in the server. Also , just imagine the P2P possibilities!

Something exciting to think about! Meanwhile, I'm going to see how my life improves while I play around a bit more with Deskbar and Zoe.