Google Desktop began as a simple application that would let you search your computer's hard drive as quickly as it searches the Internet. And, best of all, it was free.

It still is free, but now it supports lots of little desktop applications, known as gadgets, and 28 languages, including Finnish, Turkish, and Romanian (excerpted here).

You can reach more than 80% of the world's Internet users with just 10 languages. So Google is clearly making good progress in expanding the reach of this application.

However, for those of us on Macs (like me) Google Desktop is still out of reach.