The Next Not-Google
Bing is a revolutionary new search engine from Microsoft with a $100 million price tag for the company. The goal, apparently, is to create the “next” Google. For most, this means simply creating a better search engine, but it could also mean creating something that’s better than a search engine. Here’s my take:
If Bing’s goal is to become the next Google because it’s a better search engine, they fail. Seth Godin says it best: “…there already is a next Google. It’s called Google.”
For us (arguably) sane people, we don’t go looking for a fix for unless there’s something broken, and for most, Google isn’t broken. Why do we need a better search engine? Bing (But It’s Not Google…) is set to take the search engine world by storm. Yeah, right…
On the other hand, there is a new player in the market these days, called Wolfram Alpha. Where Google leaves off is where Wolfram steps in, providing “searchers” the ability to solve problems, equations, and computations. Wolfram vows to know anything “knowable” (meaning factual; something that can be backed up with evidence) upon its release into the public.
For many people Wolfram will serve no immediate purpose, but in case you need to quickly find out the difference between France and China’s GDP, you can (0.7487, as of 2007).
What do you think? Is this idea something worth talking about, or will be useful for only for the nuclear physicist in us all?
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