09 Jan 06
Google Pack Google
Last week I posted about the rumours the Google were intending to release a no-frills personal computer running a Google OS. Well it seems that those rumours were unfounded, although what Google did release was the Google Pack.
"Google Pack is a free collection of essential software from Google and other companies. The software in the Google Pack helps you browse the web faster, remove spyware and viruses, organize your photos, and more."
Google Press Release
The pack includes such useful apps as Firefox, Ad-Aware, and RealPlayer. Now I am slightly worried about RealPlayer being included. RealPlayer as we all know is Beelzebub's software, but lets leave that rant for another day.
Also included is Google's Picasa the Photo organizer, (which I use to generate the gallery on this site), and various other bits and bobs from Google. The Google screensaver is quite nice, although when it rus it brands your screen with "Google" in the top right. So why not go to Amit Agarwal's blog and get the fiddled version without the logo :D Its worth getting as the screensaver is probably the best piece of software in the entire Google Pack. The screensaver displays a slideshow of your digital pictures full screen or as a collage.
Also included is Google Desktop. This is scary, it sits on your PC downloading things, indexing your emails... no I don't like this at all. It also puts personalized adverts on your computer as a popup- I will not tolerate adverts on my computer... in my browser? Well I have put a stop to that, but sneaking them onto my desktop... no no no.
Anyway, Google are on probation with me for the time being- they are damn good at searching the Internet, and Gmail is a dream to use... but they are getting scary like Microsoft.