Enterprise Desktop Search is not only about Security and privacy

There is so much more to Enterprise desktop search software than just Security and Privacy. Versatility remains equally important for the IT Managers. Danny Bradbury mentions some interesting facts about Desktop Search software in this interesting story Where did that file go?.

The most frequently asked question - Why are companies charging for desktop search software when so many other companies like Microsoft, Google offer it for free. The logic is simple, companies are charging for desktop search software, which they say offer more functionality.

ISYS Desktop Search software allows users to conduct proximity searching. For example, the free search engines cannot hunt for occurrences of the word “cat” within 10 words of the word “dog,” he says. “We do a lot of work with legal and governmental organizations and those sorts of things are important.”

X1 enterprise search product allows IT administrators to include selected folders on other people’s hard drives, so that you can find a particular file even when a person is out of the office and forgot to upload it to a central computer.

Google sells its enterprise search product as an appliance — software loaded into preconfigured hardware, creating a single system from a single supplier that makes support and maintenance easier. Others prefer to sell only the software, leaving customers to buy the hardware to run it on.

There is also mention of WinFS, an object-oriented file system, that Microsoft plans to ship as an add-on to the current version of Windows XP much before the much awaited Longhorn.

WinFS is a file system that would link different types of files in a way more acceptable to users. For example, if you remember you took a digital picture at a conference six months ago but don’t remember what you called it or where you put it, it would be difficult to find, even with a desktop search tool. If the file was indexed by WinFS, you might be able to go back to the conference in your Microsoft Outlook calendar, click on it, and view the files that were created during the event.

Will WinFS mark the ultimate demise of Desktop Search Tools? Only time can tell. Or Microsoft.