It was inevitable, and the privacy concerns are starting to shoot across the media. Once again, false privacy concerns. The current concern over Google Desktop Search (GDS) is that on a computer with multiple users, all personal files are searchable by everyone.

Of course, this is a concern, but it really isn't as much of a problem as people are making it out to be, and everyone seems to be pointing the finger at the wrong place. GDS only indexes what it is able to obtain without passwords. That means these personal e-mails, IM conversations, etc. are already accessible without a password! It isn'tthe fault of Google, but the fault of the respective programs like Outlook, AIM, and Internet Explorer, and the poor design of the Windows operating system itself. GDS makes the accessible more convenient. It doesn't make the inaccessible accessible.

In response to this concern, a Google spokesperson said that they are working to provide protection for such material through multiple user support and passwords. Of course, you could still easily access these private files without using Google Desktop Search, just like you always could.

This is yet another example of why Linux is better than Windows. Linux natively supports the kind of privacy protection that Windows users can only dream of. If you don't own the file or folder and only the owner has permission to view it, then unless you're root (the owner of the system) it's simply impossible for you to view it. That is, unless you do something crazy that requires you to actually be at the computer, but in that case there's nothing that could be done on the software level that could stop it, regardless of the operating system installed, etc. Okay, I'm rambling now. :/