There has been a lot of talk about this new search engine by Wolfram which many called a Google killer. The strange thing was that this happened without anyone being able to test the search engine. It finally is live now and anyone is able to test the search engine and compare it against other popular search engines. The start page of the search engine offers a search form and describes the functionality of the search engine which outlines the differences between this search engine and classic search engines like Google Search or Yahoo Search.
Wolfram|Alpha’s long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
The goal of Wolfram|Alpha is therefor not to index as many pages as possible. It clearly states that they want to collect and curate objective data only which limits the search range drastically. It shines when it comes to search queries like “weather berlin germany june 3, 1988″, “next solar ecplipse” or “us deficit” although it largely depends on how the search request is entered. A search for “current us deficit” for example will not yield any results at all while the “us deficit” query will display results.
The search engine is in alpha stage and it is very likely that it will improve over time.
Wolfram|Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity.
Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing capabilities over the years and decades to come. With a world-class team and participation from top outside experts in countless fields, our goal is to create something that will stand as a major milestone of 21st century intellectual achievement.
It is a Google Killer? No, definitely not. It does however provide better results than other search engines for results that can be computed mathematically.
Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter.Related Articles:
Wolfram Alpha Gets Its First Core Update After LaunchPassword Generator, Information At Wolfram Alpha
Google Unified Search
Wikia Search Alpha launches
Email Client Thunderbird 3.1 Alpha Released
The search engine is experiencing a heavy load currently.
“It clearly states that they want to collect and curate objective data only which limits the search range drastically”
What’s objective?
Yes, logic is an arcane science.
Censorship is not even a science, think.
Truth is ad-equation between the thing and the intellect (adaequatio rei et intellectus), said Thomas Aquinas.
A lot will depend, I think, on whether the various sources from which the search engine will calculate the results and give the answers will have been filtered,
that is,
whether some sites will have been blocked, like Google does,
or whether the intellect will be allowed to be freely led to the conclusions to which its inferences lead the intellect.
“It clearly states that they want to collect and curate objective data only which limits the search range drastically”
When they arrive at so-called evidences, most people substitute reasoning with faith or belief.
Will the engine also do that, thereby refusing to think mathematically or rather refusing to think logically?
Next question is of course: How come the conclusions of the intellect, such as E=MC2, are applicable in or to reality? I don’t yet know the answer to that question but I am “only” 47 years old. And who knows, Wolfram Alpha may have the answer.
“It clearly states that they want to collect and curate objective data only which limits the search range drastically”
“What’s objective?”
A = 2l + 2w is objective.
“How much area is too much?” is subjective.
Tax is theft, is that objective or subjective?
No,
the thief does not come back periodically,
nor does he pretend to be stealing in the public interest
I don’t think that’s the sort of question this thing is meant to answer. It provides output from data based on a query. The objectivity depends on the methods used in the research that produced the data.
Check your data.
Are you trying to make a point?
Do you think life is a joke?
You’re either phenomenally dense or some sort of spambot.
search “future shock”:
wolfram; zero results,
google; 177,000,000 results
edit feature appears to be broken. couldn’t correct my typo from futrue to future
archer, don’t forget that feedback box down at the bottom. If you find a failure and think it should return something, tell them. :)
MKR ,
I am a refugee from Belgium.
I entered “Belgium”.
Here’s part of what I got:
languages | Dutch (40%) | French (35%) | Walloon (9.7%) | Vlaams (9.2%) | Limburgisch (5.2%)
Yes, it’s been nine years that I had to flee from there,
but the latter three languages simply do NOT exist.
Yes, some (most?) people who speak Dutch say they speak Vlaams.
Some others (French speakers) may say they speak Walloon.
But you will be very hard pressed to meet somebody, except a student perhaps, who says she speaks Limburgisch.
But my information is nine years old, of course.
And I am either phenomenally dense or some sort of spambot.
I don’t accept Wolfram Alpha as a source.
This is not curating data.
This is creating data.
The engine does not even mention that the official (not just spoken like Vlaams, Walloon and … Limburgisch) language of six villages in Belgium is German.
But I am either phenomenally dense or some sort of spambot.
thanks. it actually worked fine. just have to reload the page to see the edit changes.
Ivo, I’m going to assume your English comprehension is just not very good. You have completely missed my point.
1) It doesn’t understand some languages at all (Russian, for example)
2) But it gave pretty good forecast for on the “weather in Kiev” inquiry
So – I’m agree with you:
It is a Google Killer? No, definitely not. It does however provide better results than other search engines for results that can be computed mathematically.