Wolfram Alpha – The New Day of Search Dawns.

For the last few months the internet has been literally buzzing with news about Wolfram Alpha. Its’ been hailed by many as the greatest thing to happen to search for years. People have even suggested that the new engine is going to dethrone the kings of internet search and become a potential ‘Google killer’. Whenever a new algorithm or search engine is developed it is often hyped up as a rival to the top dogs of search-land. So far all these new engines have failed to even make a dent on Google’s control over the market share. Nowadays they hold an almost unassailable position when it comes to internet search. Many have tried to topple them and compete, but no one has even come close. Even the technological military might of Microsoft have been unable to close the gap when it comes to search.

So how does Google stay on top of the game? It’s simple; their system works….. Google’s search algorithm is continually tweaked and updated, new products and applications are produced everyday. They stay fresh, they innovate and they create. Having a vast market share does of course help to promote and advertise all of their newest products. In the long run thou the reason why people use these applications are because they are either extremely useful or interesting. Take Google Earth, Street View, Google Maps and many, many more for example. All of these products have been extremely successful because they are different, innovative, interesting and above all they work, and they work well. That’s how Sergey Brin and Larry Page remain at the top of their game. By staying in front, by creating and continually developing new ideas, Google will always continue to be the market leaders until there is a revolutionary shift within the whole paradigm of search and internet technology. They way that Google handle their business they’re most likely to come up develop the shift first.

So what’s all the hype about Wolfram Alpha I hear you ask? The whole idea of the project is to provide people with an accredited Q&A based search system. You ask it a question, for example who is the 42nd president of the U.S.A? And the engine is supposed to give you the answer coordinated and compiled using its wide ranging and authoritative knowledge base. The brilliance of the system is its’ ability to provide you with a simple statement of facts. Of course this can be acquired through Google, but you often have to trawl through lots of spammy and erroneous web pages to find the answer to your question. Quite often something completely irrelevant will come up in a Google search and you can waste a great deal of time trying to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Finding simple statistical facts on the internet can often be a nightmare. Questions like how much CO2 does the USA emit in a year? Or when was the Magna Carta signed? Or what is the GDP of the UK? Can often be difficult to find using Google. Here’s a small search example using both engines.

Wolfram Alpha Search

As you can see Wolfram comes out the clear winner when it comes down to simple and useful statements of fact.

Apart from its’ revolutionary new Q&A collation system what else is so good about Wolfram Alpha? Perhaps the engines greatest achievement is its’ complete and total lack of spam; yes it’s true. Only certain accredited sites are used to collate the data for your question and the information only appears in a simple factsheet with no pop-ups, no dating sites and definitely no Viagra.

Nothing becomes a ‘Google killer’ overnight and as the old saying goes ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. So far Alpha has hit a few stumbling blocks, the release date was pushed back and a serious of technical glitches were discovered which led to the engine going down for extended periods. A few factual errors were also discovered, but on the whole Wolfram appears to be stable. Cleary Alpha will never fully replace Google as its’ lack of shopping/advertising influence means that e-commerce companies will always use Google to promote their wares and people are increasingly becoming more active internet shoppers and will therefore still use Google to find what they want. No ones is saying that suddenly everyone is going to switch from Google to Alpha, instead people will be more likely to switch between the two depending on what form of query you want to ask. If you want to buy shoes then Google is still the way forward, however if your searching for a more academic style answer then Wolfram is probably the place to go. It’s not going to answer your essay question for you, but as it develops and matures it’s going to be an extremely useful tool without all the spammy and inconsequential hindrances that are frequently associated with a Google search.