[Search-l] _Herald_: "Wikipedia confident its search has found way to beat Google"

[Jimmy Wales]

I just added this comment:

This story needs to be REMOVED immediately as it is completely and  
totally misleading in every regard.

Wikipedia is NOT launching a new search engine. Wikipedia is owned by  
the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, and Wikia is an entirely separate  
company.

The next time I hear the media complaining about inaccuracies in  
Wikipedia I am going to go ballistic. The media can not even get the  
most basic facts straight.

You should be deeply ashamed of yourselves, and the reporter  
responsible for writing this should be fired.



On May 30, 2007, at 5:42 PM, Seth Finkelstein wrote:

> [Disclaimer - I didn't write this. The Wikipedia vs. Wikia confusion
> is from the article's author, and we all know it is a mistake]
>
> http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/focus/display.var.1436537.0.0.php
>
> Wikipedia confident its search has found way to beat Google
>
> The Wikipedia internet encyclopaedia is taking on Google by launching
> its own search engine.
>
> It plans to beat its rival by making public the computer algorithm
> which determines which links are given priority on the lists it serves
> up.
>
> Google is the world's top search engine thanks to an innovative way of
> determining which pages are the most relevant to a web user's query
> pioneered by founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in the 1990s.
>
> Yahoo and Microsoft followed with similar algorithms to rank
> pages. These algorithms form the heart of each company's intellectual
> property and are kept secret.
>
> Led by Wikipedia's co-founder Jimmy Wales, hundreds of software
> engineers are trying to overturn Google's domination of the search
> market.
>
> The idea underpinning their search engine, dubbed Wikia Search after
> Wales's umbrella company Wikia, is that its search algorithm will be
> made public, reports New Scientist.
>
> Wikia's search engineers believe this will elicit the trust of users
> in a way that Google, which keeps its algorithm a closely guarded
> secret, never will.
>
> Open source search results will also be more relevant as the algorithm
> will continually be tweaked by its users, keeping it up to date with
> new technologies as they are deployed, Mr Wales says.
>
> Wikia's California-based technology chief Jeremie Miller says that
> faced with silence people rightfully question the quality of search
> results.
>
> Some ask whether Google's algorithm skews results towards its
> advertising clients which earned the company more than $10bn last
> year.
>
> Google denies this but equally the secrecy means it is difficult to
> prove otherwise.
>
> Ian Brown, an electronic privacy expert at University College London,
> said: "European governments have been getting concerned about the
> competition aspects of search engines, particularly as Google has
> become so dominant.
>
> "They think there should be much more transparency with search  
> algorithms."
>
> Mr Miller said: "Search needs to be part of the internet's
> infrastructure, not the domain of commercial giants. Google is an
> advertising service."
>
> Google says it welcomes the competition. Spokesperson Jon Steinback
> said: "We're just really excited when a new development comes to the
> space because it is good for everybody."
>
> -- 
> Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com/
> Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
> Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php
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