Resources - Product review - Google opens up a Sidebar. Bobby Pickering got to grips with Google's powerful new interface the morning after its launch and found the new platform both agenda-setting and innovative.

Google has released an updated beta version of its desktop search tool, adding a Sidebar feature with functionality that could pose a serious challenge to Microsoft and other rivals.

Google Desktop 2 (available for free download at www.desktop.google.com/) will automatically search a user's PC and build an index of all its file content.

A Quick Find feature allows users to instantly locate files with relevant content, as well as launch applications from within the Google framework. Just type in "exc ...", and one of the first results to display dynamically as you type is a link to the Excel program - click it to launch it.

Along with the new "intelligent" Sidebar, Google has delivered enough real estate to build up a desktop interface that users will find compelling - and potentially move them further away from the Windows desktop interface. The gloves are clearly off.

The Sidebar offers convenient access to a range of information sources that Google automatically personalises for you. A news panel will learn what news services and stories interest you, and display more of the same; a Web Clips panel will search for the RSS and Atom feeds you've already used, and add them automatically. All the hard work of adding these feeds is done for you - all ...