I haven’t run the Google Toolbar or Desktop software for awhile on my main machines. Would have to reinstall because I uninstalled both programs. Perhaps too many others have taken similar actions on their machines because now betanews is reporting:

In a marketing tactic used primarily by spyware and adware companies, Google has begun bundling its Google Toolbar and Desktop Search software with the popular WinZip archive utility.

I don’t think bundling is such a bad thing necessarily as long as it’s clearly disclosed and made easy to uncheck or get out of installing when you install the software, although I’ll admit this is a curious move for Google. They shouldn’t need to enter into bundling agreements with anybody with the amount of traffic they are receiving, should they?

Meanwhile the GOOG stock has been yo-yo-ing from $270 to $300 a share mark. Will be interesting to see what impact 2nd quarter results have. My guess, and it’s only that, is Google had a very good financial 2nd quarter, despite some bad press over the Google Accelerator beta (lest we remember, it’s beta, beta). Here’s what the Google Labs has done in Q2 so far:

• 4/20/05: My Search History
• 5/4/05: Google Web Accelerator
• 5/19/05: Personalize Your Homepage

Wonder if we’ll get any Google Labs treats in June?

Update: Winer is hearing rumours from several sources that “Google is readying an iTunes-clone, based on RSS 2.0, and fully podcast-capable.”

Did this post make you go hmm?

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