Desktop search

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Apple Computer's Spotlight is an example of a desktop search tool.
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Apple Computer's Spotlight is an example of a desktop search tool.

Desktop search is the name for the emerging field of search tools which search the contents of a user's own computer files, rather than searching the Internet. The emphasis is on data mining all the information that is available on the user's PC, including web browser histories, e-mail archives, word-processor documents, and so on. One of the main advantages of Desktop Search programs is that search results come up in a few seconds. For home users, it means faster access to everything stored on the computer. For business users, it means added productivity and simplifying the workday. As companies continue to add systems and processes to knowledge workers' routines, end users are slowly adopting desktop search tools as a way to mitigate the firehose of data and cut down on unnecessary steps.

X1 Technologies' X1 Enterprise Client is an example of a desktop search tool for Windows.
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X1 Technologies' X1 Enterprise Client is an example of a desktop search tool for Windows.

Desktop search is emerging as a concern for large firms for two main reasons: untapped productivity and security. A commonly cited statistic states that 80% of a company's data is locked up inside unstructured data — the information stored on an end user's PC, the files and directories they've created on a network, documents stored in repositories such as corporate intranets and a multitude of other locations. Moreover, many companies have unstructured information stored in older file formats that they don't have ready access to.

Security is another frequently cited concern. Companies are under new regulatory mandates like Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and FERPA to make sure that access to sensitive information is 100% controlled. This creates a challenge for IT organizations, which may not have a desktop search standard, or lack strict central control over end users downloading tools off the Internet. Some consumer-oriented desktop search tools make it possible to generate indexes outside the corporate firewall and share those indexes with unauthorized users. In some cases, end users are able to index — but not preview — items they should not even know exist.

Contents

[edit] Technologies

The only way to achieve reasonable performance when searching several gigabytes of data is to build and maintain an index database. When indexing the files, desktop search tools collect three types of information about files:

  1. file and directory names
  2. metadata, such as titles, authors, comments in file types such as MP3, PDF and JPEG
  3. content of supported documents.

To search within documents, the tools need to be able to parse many different types of document. This is achieved by using filters that interpret selected file formats. For example, a Microsoft Office Filter might be used to search inside Microsoft Office documents.

Long-term goals for desktop search include the ability to search the contents of image files, sound files and video by context.

The sector has attracted considerable attention from the emerging struggle between Microsoft and Google. According to market analysts, both companies are attempting to leverage their monopolies (of web browsers and search engines, respectively) to strengthen their dominance. This may bring back memories of the browser wars of the 1990's.

[edit] Products

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Some of the products in this emerging market are:

[edit] External links

[edit] Comparisons

[edit] Specific products

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