"Google Desktop includes Sidebar, a panel on your desktop which provides convenient, one-glance access to all sorts of personalized information."

This is no longer just "Google Desktop Search." This is Google's attempt to manage everything about your computer and your online presence in a single compact desktop application. This is going to be running up against Widgets from Yahoo! and Apple. While it may not be as pretty as a widget, it's more useful, more logical, and uses far less system resources.

Among the features of the Sidebar are:

• Email
• News
• Weather
• Photos
• Stocks
• Feeds
• Notepad
• Quickview
• Quickfind
• Outlook Integration

And we have to assume that Google is going to stick an IM client (Gaim-based? Hello-based?) in there at some point.

You might have noticed that WTG is a bit geekier than usual today, so we promise to avoid tech content for the next 24 hours.