Is update-engine a daemon?

[GoogleCodeExporter]

 * What steps will reproduce the problem?

Download Google Earth 5.x from earth.google.com, try to install it.

* What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Expected output after expanding it, and trying to run it, is the Google Earth 
interface, instead, I 
get this:

"This software will update any Google software on your computer when new 
versions become 
available. Google Software Update verifies updates and is safer than 
downloading files from the 
Internet yourself.

To continue using Google Earth, you must accept the new Google privacy policies 
and allow 
Google Software Update to run in the background on your computer.

Read technical details"

* What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?

Google Earth 5.0.11337.1968
Mac OS X 10.5.6 PowerPC

* Please provide any additional information below.

This is more a documentation bug. It's not crystal clear from there whether 
Google Software 
Update (which I assume is what 'update-engine' is, from the links in the dialog 
box that appears) 
will be running on my computer all the time, even when I'm not running Google 
Earth?
If it does, why? Does it really need to?

The other 'bug' of not being able to install the 35MB package I downloaded 
because it needs to 
install something I don't seem to need is really a Google Earth issue, and not 
one for here, I 
guess.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by virtual...@gmail.com on 18 Mar 2009 at 7:59

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Google Software Update does not run all the time in the background. If you look 
in activity monitor you should 
not see Google Software Update running all the time.

Original comment by dev...@gmail.com on 6 Apr 2009 at 5:33

• Changed state: Done

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The Software Update dialog still needs improvement. Most people get a scare 
when you refer to a privacy policy, 
and the "Technical details" referred to are generic mumbo jumbo. What exactly 
will Google do to my system? 
Exactly when can I expect non-user initiated computer activities and network 
traffic?
I'm for sure not gonna read the source code to find out...

Original comment by nor...@gmail.com on 7 Apr 2009 at 3:34