Google puts Desktop app out to pasture

Google is retiring Desktop, an application it launched in 2004 that is designed to let people search for files and data stored in their computers' hard drives.

It was one of the first products Google aimed against Microsoft and was intended to improve upon the native search functionality found in Windows operating systems.

Desktop search became an area of competition, as Microsoft responded to the challenge and others such as Yahoo launched their own products.

However, Google has decided that, with the popularity of cloud computing and users' increasing comfort with Web applications and with the concept of storing data and files online, the time has come to decommission Desktop.

Operating systems have also improved their local search functionality, the company said in a blog post on Friday.

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