Interview: Talking to Google Desktop

This is the first in a series of posts where Blog-About-The-Web will interview programmer teams to find out what's behind the software we use every day.

Recently, Google Desktop gadgets and their development have been showcased at the Developer Day in the US and Japan . Now, i have the pleasure of interviewing James Yum and Mihai Ionescu - Engineers on the Google Desktop Team - who talk about the past, present and future of Google Desktop.

Teo: How did desktop applications change to meet the requirements of a growing online world?
Mihai: It's hard these days to think of a desktop application without some sort of web access. Even super-specialized applications that mostly do computations now access data from the internet. A successful desktop application that expects a large user audience will have to blur the lines between the online and offline worlds and we are seeing that happening more and more lately.

Teo: From your experience, what do you think is the most wanted feature from a desktop app?
James: From a desktop app? I personally like desktop apps that are stable and don't crash. :) I also prefer applications that are free or open sourced.

Teo: Google Desktop has recently introduced gadgets. Why are mini-applications like them so successful?
Mihai: First, users appreciate that gadgets can be easily tailored to a specific preference or need. For example you don't need to go to a huge webpage which is slow to load, just to figure out the weather, instead you can use a desktop gadget which you can customize to get continuous weather updates while taking up very little space on your desktop.
Second, gadgets are becoming more and more popular with content providers because they are an excellent medium to distribute content to users. There is a lot of interesting content on the internet, with more of it created every day (think news, blogs, RSS, stocks). Desktop gadgets are ideal for content distribution because they offer a permanent presence on the user's desktop where content can be personalized and presented in real-time.
Last, but not least, gadgets are becoming more and more popular with developers. I can think of two main reasons for this: a very simple programming model based on the ubiquitous JavaScript language and the opportunity to generate traffic to the developer's sites.

Teo: How easy is it to install desktop gadgets?
James: It's very easy and a lot of fun. The Add/Remove gadget dialog lets you install gadgets in seconds, and, as a bonus, it will actually recommend gadgets to you. I think that's a really cool thing about gadgets, that you can try all these mini-applications without running an installer program and going through the trouble of uninstalling it (and worrying about what it leaves behind on your filesystem and registry).

Teo: And how easy is it to create them? The border line between users and developers is getting thinner these days :)
James: That's very true, that the line between users and developers is getting thinner. More and more users have encountered XML and JavaScript in their online lives or at work. In some ways, I think that gadget development is even easier. There are fewer limitations to worry about, and plus you don't have to worry about browser differences.

Teo: Google Talk is proving very useful for Google Desktop gadgets...
James: Yeah ... Google Talk is the mechanism for the Gadget Communication API. It's amazing how easy it is to implement multiplayer games or collaborative applications. You don't have to deal with any network stacks or low-level details. If you take a look at the Reversi and Chess gadgets, they are so well done, and behave/look just like a traditional desktop program. It only takes minutes to prototype such a gadget.

Teo: What type of Google Desktop gadgets are popular right now, and which ones do you think have a bright future?
James: Clocks will always be popular :)
But I like gadgets that bring useful information to the user. For example, I used to read the newspaper everyday: for stock quotes, the weather forecast, sports scores, etc ... all those things can be replaced with gadgets. On the flip side, people need a convenient method to organize their life and jot down pieces of information. I know people who use the ScratchPad gadget hundreds of times per day.
The other category of gadget, is what I think of as "gauges". Your car has all these kinds of meters, dials, etc. These types of gadgets are popular, since in the user's mind, it's one way to customize their "machine".
I think gadgets that integrate with Google and other popular sites will be very popular, especially now that more and more are opening up APIs.

Teo: Search is saving a lot of time in a very busy world, almost entirely replacing organization. How does Google Desktop Search work towards saving time?
Mihai: Search enables users to focus on the work they are trying to accomplish, rather than the folder organization that will let them best remember what they were working on. Desktop search gives users quick and easy access to all the data stored on the machine so they can find exactly what they are looking for within seconds, rather than wading through directories. Google Desktop in particular, has some additional time-saving and efficiency-boosting features such as cached copies (great if you inadvertently delete your documents), versioning, search results filtering, a timeline feature, thumbnails and quick previews to name a few. We also offer a plugin architecture that allows third parties to index in detail any type of documents.

Teo: In the end, (i've been asked to pass this question along :) Google's broader mission is to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible. Google Desktop makes the jump from the web to our own computers. Do you think some day, a jump from our computers to our rooms could occur? (helping us search without organizing? :D)
James: Do you mean like "googling" for your car keys or your remote control? I'm always losing stuff and would love something like that. Maybe that should be the future of the Google Search Appliance. Just throw some legs and optical sensors on it and ask it to find your phone.

Teo: Are there some cool features being developed?
Mihai: We always have cool features in the works. I won't go into specific details, but I can say that we are listening to our users and developers and working with them on adding the most requested features. We also like to experiment and try new approaches to non-trivial usability and design issues for both desktop search and desktop gadgets.

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Thanks to the Google Desktop Team for taking the time to answer these questions! Hopefully there will be more interviews with popular programs' teams soon. Stay tuned :)