On 6/22/07, Jon Pruente [email protected] wrote:
On 6/22/07, Billy Crook [email protected] wrote:
The author needs to learn how search engines work. You can't converse
with
them like a person. "Why choose linux?" is not a smart query. Maybe
"linux
benefits OR advantages".
This is the problem that Kozoru (the place where all the 1U rackmounts servers around KC suddenly came from) was working on. It worked, but when they sat test subjects down and had them use it, they had already been "trained" for keyword searching. They might put in a few questions, but they would shortly revert to keywords and end up defeating the advantages of the new tech. The tech got bought and moved to Ask.com, as one of the Ask VPs had a stake in Kozoru. Ever wonder why Ask.com suddenly started doing a bunch of commercials about a month or so ago, several months after Kozoru folded and Ask.com had time to get it integrated and working? ;)
Jon.
IIRC "Ask" is the current incarnation of what used to be called "Jeeves" A naming that was intentionally evocative of an olde English butler. With cartoonish theming carrying the meme a bit to extreme for many users. The focus difference with "Jeeves" being that conversational queries were handled more gracefully than other search engines of that time could. With the results often being either very much spot on or weirdly way off. I used it for "game show" questions or soft searches like " how many cover versions of the Johnny Cash song "ring of fire" are there ?
Oren