I would say it's probably harmless, but I didn't invite Google to install their updater on my laptop, they didn't ask for my consent, I don't have any spare memory (I have to keep deleting my own stuff from memory) and I don't take a positive view of having stuff rammed down my little laptop's throat.
So it's for the chop. Sadly, that website tells you how to turn it off, but of course the next time you go to Google places, they turn it straight back on again (or install it again). That, to me, qualifies it as "spamware" if not worse.
What annoys me even more is that it sets off to download updates when I'm on a very slow GPRS connection (and uses up paid-for dongle time).