So I’ve decided to join in the Google speculation that people love so much.

I stumbled across a blog entry today about the power of Google off of Scoble’s link blog (I so need to implement one of those…I’ve already got the sql script to export my favorites) and it got me thinking.

What if Google redefined the way that we interact with our filesystem? They already have to some degree with Google Desktop Search, but what if, similar to what Kunal was saying, Google designed a new File Manager? And instead of organizing your files by drive (C:) and folder (Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\My Pictures) you could organize your files by category, or by search term? You can already do this with email using GMail and it has proven to be quite successful. How hard would it be to make an intuitive user interface (what WinFS is supposed to be?) to your files? The file manager known as Explorer is one of the weaker parts of Windows. I personally prefer Servant Salamander and it’s dual-paned functionality, not to mention all the great shortcuts and other user enhancements (easy zip viewing, ability to copy filename paths by hitting Alt+Insert…).

How could Google make file browsing easier? Currently this is how one would find something using Explorer: “Where did I put that picture of so-and-so? My Documents? No. D:\Temp\Pics? No. \home-server\homes$? No. Comeon…”. Now imagine using Google’s file manager: “GDesktop->Pictures->Last 20 pictures…FOUND!” Amazingly easy to imagine…I love productivity and usability enhancements.