Today Google has released their ‘google pack’ of essential software for your desktop.

The software included by default is Google Earth, Picasa, Google Pack Screensaver, Google Desktop, Google Toolbar.

Google Earth - get a birds eye view of anywhere in the world.
Pros: Pretty interface, Easy to use, Fun!
Cons: Quality of images vary a lot, making it unusable for viewing some regions.
Recommendation: Install it and see if you have a use for it.

Picasa - photo editing graphics utility.
Pros: Gets good reviews.
Cons: not sure - i havent tried it yet.
Recommendation: Give it a try.

Google Pack Screensaver - display your pictures as a screensaver.
Pros: Has some nice layout options such as collages.
Cons: Windows XP comes with a similar screensaver, and how useful are screensavers really?
Recommendation: Okay if you like that sort of thing!

Google Desktop - index everything on your computer so you can easily find it.
Pros: not sure
Cons: Early releases had security issues. Not as good as Copernic Desktop Search.
Recommendation: Use Copernic Desktop Search instead.

Google Toolbar - add-in for Internet Explorer.
Pros: Allows you to search without going to the search website.
Cons: Adds clutter to IE. Windows XP SP2 adds a popup blocker to IE anyway.
Recommendation: If using XP then install Service Pack 2 and use their popup blocker. Alternatively use another browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Opera which has popup blocker functionality and a whole load of other benefits.

The Pack also comes with some optional software which i’m not going to review in detail at the moment, but will say that i would avoid Norton AntiVirus, RealPlayer, and Trillian.

Overall i’d say the google pack is a good idea, but the choice of software isnt the greatest.