Google Desktop For Linux Released

In what will hopefully be a long line of applications for the Linux world, Google has released a version of Google Desktop for Linux. While it lacks support for widgets/gadgets, it will index just about everything on your system. OOo docs, man pages, media files, and more.

Good, now I’ll be able to install the PHP documentation and search it rather than having to visit PHP.net every time!

Hopefully we’ll get an update to Picasa in the near future, as well as a Linux version of Google Talk. Yes, I know GTalk is just jabber… it’s the GMail integration that I like most.

Linspire, Freespire

Linspire, Inc., which has a commercial Linux distro of the same name, has decided to release a free Linux distro, named Freespire. According to the Press Release, we’ll see the first beta of Freespire in August.

Kevin Carmony said the Freespire project has six major goals:

1) Provide users freedom of choice by making available a “free marketplace” for all Linux software, including proprietary, open source, free and commercial products, plus provide easy access to this marketplace with open sourced tools such as CNR and apt-get. When necessary for the user experience, include proprietary software as an option in the core distribution, which will always be available for download at no cost;
2) Offer a very easy-to-use, yet powerful, Linux distribution;
3) Provide exceptional “fit and finish” with a professional and polished operating system;
4) Create a Linux that can expand more broadly to the masses;
5) Create an active community of developers and users; and
6) Include worldwide language support. A more detailed discussion on the Freespire mission can be found at www.freespire.org/about/vision.