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[Ampersand]

http://www.wolframalpha.com/index.html

For those of you that don't know, Wolfram Alpha is new breed of search engine. One that doesn't provide search results, but raw information related to the search text. Say you search for the GDP of the United States;

It would immediately provide you with a synopsis of what GDP means, a world map illustrating the location of the United Sates, give the desired number, and several related numbers such as GDP per capita and other such things, along with a snip from wikipedia and other sources potentially. It can do all this with semantic input.

Upon that, it does integral calculus, and will provide steps on how the calculus equation is solved.

Needless to say, the service has a lot of people very excited, myself included. At 7:00 PM, GMT -6:00, Wolfram Alpha will go live, with a live webcast at the headquarters of the operation, illustrating the process of it going up in real time.

[Yanlin]

So this is basically wiking it the hard way.

[olemars]

Will it be voiced by Majel Roddenberry?

[inaluct]

I'll try using this.

[Gorjo MacGrymm]

Will it be voiced by Majel Roddenberry?

nice

[Ampersand]

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Monty+Python%3F&asynchronous=false&equal=Submit

This is the sort of thing it does.

[inaluct]

Okay, well, 5 minutes has taught me that that thing is a waste of bandwidth.

1. It requires Javascript to run. Minor thing, but Google doesn't need Javascript on. Point: Google.
2. It does not actually give search results. It just gives you what amounts to a summary of something. It would be great if you were a pompous know-it-all who needed to be able to look up obscure facts on the internet, but it sucks if you're actually looking for something, like a file. I can find as many illegal video game roms as I want on Google. Point: Google.
3. It seems unable to process even basic searches, as it knows nothing. I tried searching "super nintendo" and got nothing. Searching that on Google gives me a Wikipedia article, links to some Youtube videos, the Nintendo website, an interesting looking guide to the rarest SNES games, and multiple emulation sites. Point: Google.
4. When it does process searches at all, it gives irrelevant information. I tried searching "snes" and got a description of Snell's Law. Googling "snes" gives me even more emulation-related content than Googling "super nintendo" does. This is a good thing. Point: Google.
5. It's slow. Much slower than Google. And it has a stupid name. It's named after the CEO of the company that makes it. Point: Google.

I'm disappointed. Google victory score percentage: 100%.

[Zai]

What it likes.

Google

I like it. It's nifty.

[Ampersand]

Apples and oranges.

Google can't do this.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=derivative+of+x^4+sin+x

In addition, the reason is that it's slow is because it isn't officially launched to the general public yet.

[Zai]

I don't know what to ask it. <.<

[Dasleah]

Okay, well, 5 minutes has taught me that that thing is a waste of bandwidth.

1. It requires Javascript to run. Minor thing, but Google doesn't need Javascript on. Point: Google.
2. It does not actually give search results. It just gives you what amounts to a summary of something. It would be great if you were a pompous know-it-all who needed to be able to look up obscure facts on the internet, but it sucks if you're actually looking for something, like a file. I can find as many illegal video game roms as I want on Google. Point: Google.
3. It seems unable to process even basic searches, as it knows nothing. I tried searching "super nintendo" and got nothing. Searching that on Google gives me a Wikipedia article, links to some Youtube videos, the Nintendo website, an interesting looking guide to the rarest SNES games, and multiple emulation sites. Point: Google.
4. When it does process searches at all, it gives irrelevant information. I tried searching "snes" and got a description of Snell's Law. Googling "snes" gives me even more emulation-related content than Googling "super nintendo" does. This is a good thing. Point: Google.
5. It's slow. Much slower than Google. And it has a stupid name. It's named after the CEO of the company that makes it. Point: Google.

I'm disappointed. Google victory score percentage: 100%.

Google is a search engine. Wolfram is not. Did you really miss the point of it that much?

[inaluct]

Yeah, yeah, it's an "answer engine" and all that. The point is, I can get my answers just as easily (actually, more easily) from a search engine. What's the point of this thing?

[ein]

It's just awesome.
I like it.
Furthermore: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+meaning+of+life%3F

[Servant Corps]

I can't seem to use it to do any research for my own little paper on the caliphate. The only semi-useful thing I found out is that that I share a surname with a Jordan city...which isn't very useful.

Google seems to be much more useful, but this system is specialized.

[Yanlin]

It's just awesome.
I like it.
Furthermore: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+meaning+of+life%3F

Google gives me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_is_the_meaning_of_life%3F

I think this is a much better answer.




I think I wont be using Wolfram. It's a botch. Tell me when it's worth using.