Is Wolfram Alpha the Google killer? Hardly. Wolfram Alpha, the highly anticipated computational search engine launched May 15th to mixed reviews. Creator Stephen Wolfram, physicist/software developer wanted to create a search engine of a different kind. From their About section:
“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.”
Wolfram Alpha specializes in returning computable results. Type in a math equation and Wolfram Alpha will give you the answer. Enter a date and Wolfram Alpha will tell you what happened during that date in history. Where was this lifesaver when I was in high school? It places a strong emphasis on accurate data. Think hardcore college text book.
Wolfram Alpha is completely different than other search engines. You can’t get in-depth information and commentary on people. For instance, if you search “Bill Clinton,” all you get is a birth date, place of birth and a bare-bones timeline. Not very informative. It didn’t even recognize my name to which I tried not to take personally. On the other hand, the same search in Google or Wikipedia will result in an endless supply of information. However, if you need something calculated Wolfram Alpha is your go to search engine.
Personally, I think this is a great search engine for what it does. Negative reviewers should not make the engine into something it is not. It will never have the wide appeal Google has because its purpose is rooted in academia. It’s perfect if you’re in school and need to learn more about Black Scholes, yield curves, and permutations. Researchers will love this thing to death. However, the audience for this is a far cry from your typical sports fan or shoe shopper.
It’s only the beginning for this ambitious search engine. Only time will tell if it has the staying power to compete with the big boys.
