Comments on: WolframAlpha – Ambitious, But Not Google http://techmiso.com/2470/wolframalpha-ambitious-but-not-google/ Tech evangelism and Miso soup like no other Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:03:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Jake http://techmiso.com/2470/wolframalpha-ambitious-but-not-google/comment-page-1/#comment-1191 Jake Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:24:57 +0000 http://techmiso.com/?p=2470#comment-1191 It's not trying to be google. It never says its a search engine, it's a computational knowledge engine. It gets certain data, and lets you compare related things. It's not trying to excel at knowing who you are, what it's doing is making textbook information more accessible and useful. Why would you expect a computational engine to know who you are?<br><br>For example, type in "rigel, sun, polaris", and it will give you a side-by-side comparison of numbers and graphs for the three stars you will never find with google. Type in "Apple, google, microsoft" to see a comparison of numbers from the three companies. It's difficult to find the number of employees for any of those companies on google, and 100% impossible to find it for all three at once. If you had to compare numbers or stats from three or more things, it makes this tool priceless as a time saver.<br><br>You can even use it to compare the locations of web companies. A search of "bit.ly twitter.com" tells you they are both located in the same place, and shows alexa stats on them too.<br><br>If you try to use it like google, you'll get crap. It's not trying to be google. It never says its a search engine, it's a computational knowledge engine. It gets certain data, and lets you compare related things. It's not trying to excel at knowing who you are, what it's doing is making textbook information more accessible and useful. Why would you expect a computational engine to know who you are?

For example, type in “rigel, sun, polaris”, and it will give you a side-by-side comparison of numbers and graphs for the three stars you will never find with google. Type in “Apple, google, microsoft” to see a comparison of numbers from the three companies. It's difficult to find the number of employees for any of those companies on google, and 100% impossible to find it for all three at once. If you had to compare numbers or stats from three or more things, it makes this tool priceless as a time saver.

You can even use it to compare the locations of web companies. A search of “bit.ly twitter.com” tells you they are both located in the same place, and shows alexa stats on them too.

If you try to use it like google, you'll get crap.

]]> By: Pete http://techmiso.com/2470/wolframalpha-ambitious-but-not-google/comment-page-1/#comment-1188 Pete Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:32:04 +0000 http://techmiso.com/?p=2470#comment-1188 I used WA a couple times and just found it painful to do pretty much anything I wanted to and quickly tried to forget its existence. It's got a bit of novelty but for plain searching Google is still the best. I used WA a couple times and just found it painful to do pretty much anything I wanted to and quickly tried to forget its existence. It's got a bit of novelty but for plain searching Google is still the best.

]]> By: Rich Chuckrey http://techmiso.com/2470/wolframalpha-ambitious-but-not-google/comment-page-1/#comment-1186 Rich Chuckrey Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:16:32 +0000 http://techmiso.com/?p=2470#comment-1186 Neither am I, Scott. It was a lot of exciting hype that left me wondering. Not that I prefer Google over WA, but I found myself finding ways to duplicate WA results in Google search. Probably a result of doubting WA or possibly wanting to show that a better and more branched reply from Google exists. Neither am I, Scott. It was a lot of exciting hype that left me wondering. Not that I prefer Google over WA, but I found myself finding ways to duplicate WA results in Google search. Probably a result of doubting WA or possibly wanting to show that a better and more branched reply from Google exists.

]]> By: Scott Jarkoff http://techmiso.com/2470/wolframalpha-ambitious-but-not-google/comment-page-1/#comment-1185 Scott Jarkoff Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:29:46 +0000 http://techmiso.com/?p=2470#comment-1185 I used WA a few times and found it far less than desirable. The results plainly suck and the output is not formatted all that well. I'm definitely not a fan. I used WA a few times and found it far less than desirable. The results plainly suck and the output is not formatted all that well. I'm definitely not a fan.

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