A new experimental Google app for Windows

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Product nostalgia and trust in Google

  • Many recall Google Desktop (and Google Search Appliance) fondly and see this as a reboot of a 2000s-era idea that once worked very well for local search.
  • There is widespread skepticism that the app will be abandoned within a few years, citing Google’s history of killing products and “Labs” branding as a red flag.
  • Some argue this track record makes it irrational to adopt new Google products unless absolutely necessary; others push back, saying experimentation and failure are inherent to innovation.

Use cases, competition, and UX

  • Users compare the app to existing launchers and search tools: PowerToys Run, Everything, Keypirinha, Flow Launcher, Raycast, KDE’s KRunner, macOS Spotlight, and Electron-based tools.
  • Everything and FileLocator Pro/Agent Ransack are repeatedly recommended as fast, reliable, local-only search alternatives.
  • Some early testers find the Google app fast and handy (especially for Lens/translation and unified search across local and Google services), but note minor UI annoyances.

Keyboard shortcut and OS integration

  • The choice of Alt+Space is contentious: it’s historically the Windows system menu shortcut and is already used by PowerToys Run, ChatGPT, Claude, and others.
  • Some see Google’s choice as “classless” or competitive copying; others say Alt+Space / Win+Space are de facto launcher shortcuts and fully reasonable, since users can remap.

Privacy, data collection, and AI training

  • A strong theme is distrust of giving Google local file access: fears include indexing contents, associating data with Google accounts, and using it for LLM training.
  • Several note the lack of a clear, specific privacy policy for this app; some state that without explicit legal guarantees, they must assume worst‑case behavior.
  • This is framed as part of a broader erosion of privacy via cloud sync (OneDrive, Google Drive) and OS-level “recall”/computer-use features.

Unified web + local search concerns

  • Many dislike combining web and local search, calling it UX pollution and a “catastrophic privacy risk.”
  • Others note that some systems let users disable web results and that companies are likely also motivated by engagement and defensive AI strategies.

Accessibility and scaling

  • One subthread asks Google to respect Windows text scaling APIs; another notes Windows accessibility trade-offs and praises per-app or per-display scaling (especially on Linux/KDE).