Is Wolfram Alpha the Google Killer?

• Wolfram Alpha Launching Today: Monday May 18th, 2009
• The Wolfram Alpha "Fact Engine"
• Is it the Google Killer?
• “We are not a search engine. No searching is involved here,” Stephen Wolfram told Danny Sullivan (article here)
• Show below is Stephen Wolfram, creator of Wolfram Alpha, ready to huff and puff and blow down Google's house.

Try Wolfram Alpha: Fact Engine

People are lazy. 80% of internet users scan read, search using keywords, have used txt spk @ sum pt. and click off a page if they don't find what they want within 3 seconds...

Google caters for the masses... unfortunatly the masses are dumb. I personally think it will be the whois of search engines. Only the educated will know it exists and/or use it (that is if the idea doesn't get ripped off by another site with an easier to remember URL).

Having the skills to drill down and do research and wanting to be efficient about it are different things. If I can do the same work somewhere else *faster*, but of the same quality, I'm going to choose the faster method.

I think they are right in describing it as the un-Google. I think if you are not involved in research or academics, the value of this for the common user is not going to shoot of the page.

It is however going to provide a really easy way for people to grab data that can be used to create more value added and rich content on the Web.

It appears that they've taken a "lens" on the Web that looks for specific characteristics of certain data sets, and presents that to you, minus all the noise.

I would consider using it as a starting point for any facts and figures. After I got some initial info, I would move on to Google to continue researching.

I think it's definitely not a Google killer. However, as the un-Google, it will definitely have a place in sub-niche of search, until that sub-niche begins to get addressed by Google and/or other 3rd parties who may do it better.

I tried doing a search for crime statistics in Puerto Rico, and did not get any results right off the bat. So my first impression was a C-, but I'm willing to give it another trial once I have more time available to play a bit more.

"Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input."

well, i probably won't be using it. lol

Their jquery has errors on it. If they want to compete Google , they first want to fix those errors.

I tried a few different searches and it worked quite well. What I liked is it was to the point. It's almost more like a "got a question, we'll get the answer" type service.

This is definitely going to bomb with the average searcher who will try several times and get nothing.

My recommendation would be for them to geo detect the IP of visitors and get some sample queries linked on the right side, rather than just usage examples.

If users don't find something of interest to them quickly, there simply not going to come back to it.

I spent a few minutes and did not have much luck with it, so my immediate impression is that it seems really significant and powerful, yet has significant usability hurdles... kind of like the "Edit Wikipedia" phenomenon. Do they make it non-usable on purpose?

This is neither the first nor last of the proclaimed Google killers. Google isn't going anywhere - I doubt they've even blinked or produced even a single bead of perspiration.

Anyone still remember cuil? except when you see it crawling your forum...