What is Wolfram Alpha? It appears to be a really awesome calculator, but not a search engine.
But before I explore anything else about Wolfram, I think it is important to raise this note about Wolfram Research, and how impressive a company they are - they actually stand behind their employees!
There is an interesting story about Wolfram Research and CRC Press LLC as told by Eric Weisstein. I used to love the MathWorld website, and unfortunately I misunderstood the situation and thought Wolfram was to blame. In contrast, I now believe that CRC Press is the the party responsible for causing MathWorld to be absent from the internet for too long. Thanks to Wolfram Research, its back now.
I like to think about this story of legal abuse with respect to Google's goal to "not be evil". Imagine if CRC Press LLC were Google - it would be like Microsoft all over again!
So back to Wolfram Alpha - it appears to be a knowledge search engine, not an information search engine. It kind of reminds me of a mix between Google, Wikipedia, and the CIA World Fact Book, but only a little bit of each one.
But before I explore anything else about Wolfram, I think it is important to raise this note about Wolfram Research, and how impressive a company they are - they actually stand behind their employees!
There is an interesting story about Wolfram Research and CRC Press LLC as told by Eric Weisstein. I used to love the MathWorld website, and unfortunately I misunderstood the situation and thought Wolfram was to blame. In contrast, I now believe that CRC Press is the the party responsible for causing MathWorld to be absent from the internet for too long. Thanks to Wolfram Research, its back now.
I like to think about this story of legal abuse with respect to Google's goal to "not be evil". Imagine if CRC Press LLC were Google - it would be like Microsoft all over again!
So back to Wolfram Alpha - it appears to be a knowledge search engine, not an information search engine. It kind of reminds me of a mix between Google, Wikipedia, and the CIA World Fact Book, but only a little bit of each one.
