google desktop notification icon renders improperly in ubuntu 10.04

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Description:
The icon that appears in the notification area (and can't be turned off)
when google desktop is installed in ubuntu (10.04 Lucid) doesn't render
properly. The background of the icon should be transparent, but is not and
looks awful (and out of place). 
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1466473
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/584405

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. install google desktop on ubuntu 10.04 (lucid)
2. launch google desktop
3. look at the icon in the notification area...be annoyed

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
Icon appears (in default dark theme) with white background, instead of
transparent background. 

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
Latest google-desktop-linux downloaded a week ago from website. Ubuntu 10.04.

Please provide any additional information below.
It would be really nice if it was possible to change the notification area
icon. 
It would also be nice to be able to turn it off (i.e. have google-desktop
running in the background without appearance of (ugly + unnecessary)
taskbar icon -- why not just use the hotkey launch (like gnome-do, for
e.g.)? This would be a simple fix to the rendering problem that I'm having
and make a lot of other people happy too, I'm sure.
Or just a fix the ubuntu specific rendering problem mentioned above...
Love the desktop search, but the icon bug is really annoying... 
Thanks!

Original issue reported on code.google.com by justin.s...@gmail.com on 23 May 2010 at 8:35

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This issue is really annoying. Please solve it!

Original comment by simonxu...@gmail.com on 30 Jul 2010 at 3:23

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I have the same issue too.Ubuntu 10.04. I would like to be able to remove the 
icon from the notification area or have a black and white icon, and with a 
transparent background. 

Original comment by mustafai...@gmail.com on 2 Sep 2010 at 7:03

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This issue is really annoying. Please solve it!

Original comment by harshni...@gmail.com on 17 Oct 2010 at 5:27

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I opened up the gimp on these png files and they are both set to transparent 
background.  So is google setting a background????

Original comment by pllewi...@gmail.com on 26 Oct 2010 at 7:07

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Issue still present on Ubuntu 11.04

Original comment by niels.ol...@gmail.com on 24 Jul 2011 at 5:34

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Further info on the ubuntu forums 
(http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1466473.html)

The icons have transparent backgrounds 
(/opt/google/desktop/resources/gdl_large.png and ./gdl_small.png), but plenty 
of other apps are able to solve this problem, so not sure why Google's apps are 
an issue (though, apparently, there are others, eg, gmail-notify). Looks like 
at least one solution can be implemented on the gtk side, so if Google wants to 
place blame, please do. From the user's perspective, Google Desktop is the 
biggest, and, really, the only eyesore in an otherwise very nice desktop.

Original comment by niels.ol...@gmail.com on 24 Jul 2011 at 5:58