Close to three years after its launch for Windows, Google has finally ported its Google Desktop software to Linux.

Come April, Linux users will be able to take advantage of the software’s potent indexing and search functions, which enable documents, emails and other files to be

located virtually instantly.

The software is currently compatible with Red Hat’s Fedora Core 6, the ever popular Ubuntu 6.10, SUSE 10.1, Debian 4.0 and Red Flag 5. However, Unlike the Windows and recent Mac version, Linux users will have to wait a while longer for the applications fluffy other bits, such as the sidebar and Gadget features.
A Gadget is a small web-enabled application that sits in the sidebar or on the desktop and displays streaming information from internet sites or elsewhere. While handy and growing in popularity thanks to the likes of Adobe’s Apollo and Microsoft’s Silverlight, index and search are the most important aspects of the application, particularly considering Google Desktop for Linux can also hunt down old versions and recover files that have been deleted.

“Google Desktop hit the operating system trifecta today with the release of a version of Google Desktop for Linux,” said Google in a written statement.
“Now available on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, the Google Desktop application allows users of every major operating system to search their desktop and the web as quickly, easily and comprehensively as they search the web with Google.”

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