Google Desktop seems to be the Mighty Google’s answer to Apple’s Dashboard, even encouraging developers to write plug-ins (which are no Dashboard Widgets). The interface for Google’s desktop modules maintain their classic minimal and austere look, which makes it kind of hard (not to mention unpleasant) to look at when there are a bunch of them stacked on top of each other. The sidebar is essentially one long strip of all sorts of info: your emails, news, weather, scratch pad, web clips (a simple RSS/Atom feeds reader). A convenient place to look, but extremely disorienting. I’d rather have the modules separated, and that I can open whichever one whenever I want to. Much like Dashboard. I also find the sidebar distracting when I’m working, with new things popping in and out, not to mention that it takes up 15% of the screen (any less would render it useless).

I’m not a fan of these sidebars at all, but they seem to be the way to go these days. I remember it from the XWindows days, and now Microsoft is having its own version of sidebar for its Windows Longhorn (or if you prefer, Windows Vista). Incidentally, both Longhorn and Google have a random photo slideshow module, which I found to be the most amusing tool, showing me photos that I would otherwise not see. Problem is, I can’t do much other than looking at the photos - it doesn’t seem to be integrated with Google’s Picasa (which I absolutely love).

Google’s little feed reader, Web Clips, keeps track of the feeds of those sites you read often - so, for example, it’s showing me clippings from The Morning News’ Headlines. However, those headlines are links, but these clippings in Web Clips don’t link (!?)…

As for Google Talk, the Iridesco PC department tried the voice chat - and it worked. Google said “talk through your computer but hear your friends as if they were in the same room”; we say, your friends will sound like they’re in another room, thankfully. I don’t know how many people were using the system as I was trying it out tonight, but the sound quality was decent, a little better than Skype. I can’t invite people on a conference call, and there’s no way for me to call a regular phone. The interface is bare, like the modules for Google Desktop. No ads, no funny emoticons, no file transfer (and I thought for sure they’ll pull Picasa’s Hello into Talk), just not much of anything but a very simple interface to chat, via your fingers or voice.

Think I’ll remove Google Desktop soon and keep Talk for a little longer. Just makes me wonder… these Google folks obviously have seen Dashboard, so do they think all that interface design is frivolous? And how about that Longhorn/Vista sidebar silliness? They can’t be serious - or am I missing something? Maybe it’s time for me to switch to the dark side.