Today, Google announced GooglePack, a way to get free software through a coordinated, “Googlefied” download mechanism. The software selections are optional — you just pick and choose what you want.
Since the packs have a security angle (AV and antispyware), we took a quick look and while its software offerings are not necessarily new or extraordinary, it’s has an elegantly designed download and updating mechanism. It also gets a Google Updater on your system, providing Google the opportunity to offer you more things in the future…
So what can you get with GooglePack?
- Adobe Reader 7
- Ad-Aware SE Personal
- GalleryPlayer HD Images
- Google Desktop
- Google Earth
- Google Pack Screensaver
- Google Talk
- Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
- Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar
- Norton AntiVirus 2005 Special Edition
- Picasa
- RealPlayer
- Trillian
Basically, mostly free stuff that you can get off the net. (The Norton AV is not a full AV product. It’s a six month trial edition, and it doesn’t include worm protection and “extended threat protection”, which detects spyware and certain non-virus threats such as adware and keystroke logging programs.)
Alex Eckelberry