Precipitate merges Mac OS X, Google cloud
Spotlight, Apple's exceptional desktop search program, is great for finding files on your Mac. I also use it to launch programs, look up dictionary definitions, and do the occasional math problem.
While Spotlight is excellent on the desktop, it doesn't know beans about the cloud. Enter Precipitate.
I just came across the cool open-source Precipitate program, which was released this summer. It allows you to search Google Docs or Google Bookmarks from the comfort of Spotlight (or Google Desktop).
How does this work? According to Google's Web site: "Precipitate works by creating files on your machine that are imported by Spotlight, then periodically checking in with the server and updating the local files to reflect any changes."
Pretty useful, though it will become much more so when Precipitate enables Gmail searches, as well. Too much to hope for?
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
- by n8leon September 23, 2008 8:44 AM PDT
- Interesting choice of names, since (in Chemistry) the precipitate is not part of the solution! :-P
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