Search engines have changed the very way humans function. Whether it is searching for a cure to an illness, looking up research for an assignment, getting different viewpoints about a news item or finding an old friend, we are hooked to the taxonomy of interrelated information in this age. It doesnt stop at that though. Finding a good book to read, looking up pictures, searching for song lyrics or downloaded sites, the World Wide Web has in fact made us so interconnected that collaboration was the only direction to go in if anyone did not want to be left behind.
It is because of the importance of web search and the taxonomic schemas that surround and bind us together that the topic of this paper is so important. This paper will not only take you through the evolution of web search, but also its advantages and disadvantages. Also, the fight for the share of web search will only continue in our times, and thus you will also find a very detailed comparison of Google and Microsoft newly revamped Bing and how they will change the world as we see it.
How did it happen The evolution of the search engine
As people started joining the internet revolution, people like the founders of Alta Vista and Yahoo realized that it was time to organize everything. This lead to the evolution of the internet search as we know it. The diagram on the next page explains the evolution and the various stages that were passed to reach the stage which now prevails. A stage at which most people think it cannot get easier to search for information, yet the top gurus of search just met last week to discuss and debate the future of this business and what the next step in evolution should be.
It all started with keyword search, and this theory came up to try to tame the monster that we call unstructured information. The best way to do this was to ask the algorithm to look for certain keywords and then organize information and pull information accordingly. The next step involved more than just key words and instead of just words, their relevance was also judged which lead to the stage of page ranking.
With the search realm now growing and regulation coming in the age of parametric, federated and secure search came in, so that users were now allowed to search for their relevant information from all the information that was needed. We now stand at the crossroads to all this change, where audio, video and all sorts of formats can be searched in detail at the click of a button and now the newest level is that of Integrated Meaning Based Computing or MBC.
In order for users all over the world to fully reap the benefits of integration and borderless access to information, they started collaborating on the internet. Whereas the evolution of collaboration can be traced back to the time of Darwin and his experiments, the principle lies in a very popular euphuism, two heads are better than one.
As the use of the internet increased, collaboration increased and the need for tools that made it easier was felt. Thus collaboration tools were formed so that people from all corners of the world, could work together and benefit from each others experience and expertise.
According to Jace Ricafrente, the world is now so fast paced that collaboration is not an advantage, and is actually a necessity for success. Also the new name of the game is not just success but sustained collaborative success. It is only a matter of time, when collaboration tools start becoming free and a new charging model takes over, since high prices for collaboration tools are now seen as a hindrance.
If one chooses to further explore the relationship between taxonomy and the currently available collaboration tools, Dave Clark, Global Taxonomy Director of the Dow Jones Company gives some excellent arguments in favour of e- collaboration and its future. As he puts it, the world will now depend on the collaboration of the best minds when the come together to achieve any objective.
In a world of unlimited and unstructured information, it will take the finest to beat the finest at the own game. The common pitfall that over enthusiastic people usually encounter is the problem of not organizing their collaboration effort properly. According to Clark, the areas that need most focus are the preliminary stages and that is where most people falter. Companies or individuals, need to first focus on the Who, What and How of the taxonomy implementation before they actually do anything.
Take the example of the Dow Jones Company, the company has to handle massive volumes of data twenty four hours a day. Over five hundred thousand documents in a twenty four hour day, from over ten thousand sources and in twenty languages. If that is not enough, the company needs to handle over three hundred and ten thousand company codes, over eight hundred and twenty industries, over five hundred and twenty subjects from over three hundred and fourty regions. If even this is not enough to surprise a person lets look at the total figures again. Three point six million documents, from over seven hundred feeds, in one hundred and fifty countries, driven through a sixty terabyte server
There is a major shift that has taken place in the world of business. As companies become increasingly globalized and the world comes much closer than ever before, customers also have developed to a new degree. They require top tier service, and with a multitude of options at their disposal it is now up to companies to ensure that they have a viable competitive edge to compete for market share as well as share of mind.
If there were one word that would describe the key to success in todays global arena, it would be innovation. Customers now demand a great product at a great price, at the right time and at the right location. Any company that needs to be at the top of its target market segment needs to understand there customers better and then deliver a product that will exceed all expectations.
For this to come about, it is essential that the company hire the best minds. The world has now changed and the old definition of labour does not suit todays environment. Whereas until up to 10 years ago, labour could be defined as manual work, the definition is now all about who is the smartest. Labour in todays market is what we call knowledge workers. It is due to these knowledge workers that companies can crunch numbers and deliver strategies that will out think, out wit, and out perform the competitors. These knowledge workers are now at the core of every industry and drive their respective growth. Whether is be lawyers, doctors, marketers, architects, clarity of thought and supreme knowledge are needed to predict shifting trends before they happen and thus these two qualities are essential for success.
It is with this in mind that the concept of Knowledge management was introduced and has become the latest it word today. Companies need to know what will happen next and instead of the market keeping the company guessing, companies will now keep the market guessing, as to what the next revolution will be and whether or not it will come from there.
How have the internet and search engines changed our lives
Its been almost twenty since the human race first heart the word the World Wide Web, and like most stories of game changing technology trends, once that happened, there was no turning back. We as a people now revolve around the internet. Everything that we do, everywhere we are, the internet somehow or the other remains linked to us. Think about it.
As you read this paper right now, you will realize that a majority of this research has been done off the internet, with the help of some search engine. When you go home, tired after a days work of teaching and checking papers, you would want to switch one the television and relax. Want to find out what is good on the television today You can just search it. I actually wouldnt be surprised if you even make your deadlines and goal charts on the internet on sites like rememberthemilk.com.
Heres what even more interesting. I first heard about this site on another site, and then since I did not remember the name and wanted to write it in this assignment I search make lists and milk and found it. That is the pure beauty of the internet and the search engine. There is no stopping it, and there is no stopping us from getting hooked on it either.
But has all this change been all for the better. Weigand (2008) of the Korean IT times tends to take a diplomatic view on this issue. According to him, there are certain pros and cons both associated with the internet and its almost stupendous growth and social inclusion pattern at warp speed.
The pros are quite obvious. Anything we want, literally anything, we can search for and find in a matter of seconds. Social networks have not only helped to find long lost friends and let people keep up to date, but with the introduction of tools such as Linkedin.com and its competitors, business associates can also network and hugely increase their chance at collaboration as well as moves to greener pastures.
Another interesting point that Weigand (2008) raises is how newspapers and other forms of popular media were the bastion of democracy of the past, and now the internet is all of them combined into one. Thus all information, with all sides of the story, and varied opinions from all extremes as well as milder views, are available through the internet.
The last pro internet search argument that Weigand (2008) gives is that the internet is a tool for the truth. A recent example is of the Iranian elections and how bloggers tweeted their opinions about the election results.
The cons however are equally marginalizing. Since there is almost no control over the internet, thus there remains a great deal of filth and crime that exists on the internet and search engines. Lawless and daily perversions such as child pornography are easily accessible.
Since there is no control the internet also becomes a source of lies as well as mass unrest. Slander is easy to use and since everyone remains so inter connected these days, the term spreading like wildfire seems outdated when one talks about Tweeting or social networking updates.
Not only has the internet and search changed us socially, but it has in many ways, forced a complete 360 degree turn around in the way that business is now conducted. Whereas the Dow Jones Company stated above would suffice, that is one example of how a company now makes taxonomy and search engines the very core of their operations.
Since everything can be searched, analyzing businesses is much easier than ever before. If an analyst needs to predict trends, they can just look up the financial history by looking up trend sites and easily predict how a certain company stock will perform. Analyzing financial statements has become so much easier since now anyone can easily not only look up the history, but also within a matter of minutes, find different analyst view points available either for free or via a payed source.
Essentially, internet search has greatly reduced the lead time associated with all sorts of tasks. Sourcing has become easier, since now through networking sites, any supplier can search for potential buyers, and buyers can find the best supplier fit for their product.
The same deems true for consultants as well. They can find clients by searching according to the relevant string that they enter and relevant search results by page ranking methods can easily help them continue business.
However talking about internet search remains incomplete without mentioning the market that is currently available, and within that lays Microsofts Bing and Google.
Microsofts Bing .vs. Google What is better
Mark Hachman, author of the article How Google has changed our lives describes Google as a black hole in the universe of online information, and no one can dare dispute it. When Google entered the market with its new algorithm and taxonomic structure, it literally enveloped and digested all the information available on the internet, so much so, that all the competitors, were left orbiting around it, rather than being able to compete head to head.
It was also the first business to use a completely different business model, which was something unseen in the industry and it took the competition completely by surprise. However the competition has been plotting for a long time and now is ready.
When Microsofts Bing was launched early last year, analysts predicted it as the Google killer that Microsoft had been working on for the longest time. Greg Sterling, at Search Engine land, one of the internets most trusted sources for search engine news, says that Bing is definitely not that.
As he puts its anything but. It is a massive improvement over the old Windows Live Search, and brings interesting additions such as categorized classifications, a search history, instant answers, price comparisons based on future trends and the like however still does not bring anything majorly new to the table and thus cannot really be called the one that will dethrone Google.
An advantage that Bing search does however bring to the table is the fact that images can be searched according to size and thus there are more classifications when it comes to image search. Also the image search gives a much richer interface than Google, however what really remains to be seen is if it can get Google loyalists to switch. According to Sterling
Microsoft has integrated the HYPERLINK httpsearchengineland.comofficial-microsoft-buys-powerset-14305 Powerset technologyto varying degrees and made numerous algorithmic improvements on the back end that are largely opaque to me. More obvious are the interface upgrades and changes. While many people are accustomed even habituated to the Google UI, I appreciated the often richer visual presentation and generally cleaner organization of Bing SERPs
The majority of analysts that have compared the two and say that they both beat each other at certain instances but the search experience remains largely the same. The thing to watch out for however remains the deal that is being negotiated with Yahoo and how the new improved Bing with Yahoo will compete with Googles share of the search market
According to Jared Newman and PC World Magazine, Microsofts share of the search market had started to increase rapidly with the introduction of Bing. However, the newly acquired numbers can be owed largely to Bing eating into Yahoos market rather than Googles. December datafrom comScore pegs Bings share at 10.7 percent of searches, compared to Yahoos 17.3 percent. Google, meanwhile, continues to grow, nabbing an extra 0.1 percent of searches in December to reach 65.7 percent.
A Bing Yahoo deal will mean that through Yahoos backend search, Bing will be able to triple the number of search queries that it currently accesses and this can greatly empower the current system. The extra data will speed up Bings automated learning, helping the search engine return more relevant results, especially with rare queries. In other words, Bing will have a better chance of finding what youre looking for the first time around.
Microsoft keeps saying that the Yahoo-Bing deal will solve search problems, and thus making the first inquiry time faster and more relevant. Thus this can be treated and seen as a huge advantage over the competition. However, according to Googles research, it was shown that internet search users the world over prefer the Google logo on their search page.
How will it end No person can really predict it right now. Eventually there has to be a new competitor that will challenge not only Google, because that remains the cycle that technology tends to take. What remains to be seen is whether the internet search market can be any different.
PC world magazine gives quite an interesting analytical insight into the difference between the two search giants, as well as some comments about Yahoo Search as well. We will now engage in a blow by blow comparison of the two competitors
The homepage Bings home page is the ultimate guide to all that it has to offer. It is well organized and gives shortcuts to other Microsoft owned destinations on the web which include sites such as MSN, Windows Live as well as Bing Travel. Also the flashy photography that is used as the backdrop of the home page is visually stunning. However with other such sites, Bing is incredibly quick and light weight which only ads to the advantage. Google on the other hand keeps it totally simple. There latest change has even made it simpler and the reason They want to focus purely on the search on hand and nothing else
Search results Search results for Bing have two main components a left-hand navigation panel of Quick Tabs that allow you to focus your search fast and a center row of Categorized Search results, which simply group results in logical categories. Search results include instant answers, deep links, and multimedia. Google and Yahoo search results are delivered no-frills-style with blue links descending from most to least relevant. Both of these search engines deliver results that may include instant answers, deep links, and multimedia. Bing again wins on the due to visual appeal.
Pop search The great thing about Yahoo Is that it doesnt just stop at giving artist information and lyrics, it even displays videos from the artist, and if the user wants, he can just listen to the music by clicking on the streaming audio player... Bing delivers videos that you can preview simply by hovering your cursor over them. Google offers videos by the artist as well, but they arent as prominently displayed as on Bing and Yahoo.
Airfare service With the inclusion ofForecast technologyin Bing Travel, Microsoft has the edge over Google and Yahoo in locating the best and cheapest flights. Farecast charts the ups and downs of airfares for a particular itinerary in recent months and predicts what theyre likely to be in the near future. Yahoo offers similar tools for comparing prices and adjusting your itinerary on-the-fly for maximum savings. Google doesnt offer a cheap-flight-finding service.
Hotel service The same Farecast technology that Bing uses with airline ticket pricing works for hotel reservations, too. Bing Travel results show you a Hotel Deals listing when you search for accommodations within a specific region. Bing calculates the historical price of a room at a specific hotel, compares that price with the current rate being offered, and identifies whether the current price is a good deal. Yahoo Travel alerts you to Getaway Sale pricing for hotel rooms when such pricing is available. Yahoo Travel search results display Good Deal tags when the bargain pricing is part of a promotion offered through Yahoo, and not a low rate based on historic data. Yahoo also makes it easy to find your price range and user ratings quickly with tab navigation at the top of search results. Google doesnt offer a travel service.
Refined search Bings search-refining tools, called the Explorer Pane, show up on every search. With both Yahoo and Google, the users have to make an extra click to gain access to similar tools. In the upper left corner,
Video search Bings interface for viewing, browsing, and refining search results is slicker than that of its predecessor, Microsoft Live Search. Tools, located on the left of the screen, offer refinements for video length, screen size, resolution, and source. Hovering over a video screen-capture with your mouse triggers the video to start playing. Google lets you find your video search by duration and source, and also allows you to choose the layout of the search results--grid, list,
Shopping With the Bing Shopping service, product search pages emphasize user reviews culled from a multitude of sites. The service also offers tabbed navigation for product details and reviews, and the left-side Explorer Tab provides access to additional related searches. Hooks to theBing Cash back program (video)are hard to miss, as Bing heavily promotes retailer participants and the program itself. Google highlights price in its Google Shopping service.
Going local Bing presents a very nice overview of local restaurants, with aggregate scores for things such as overall quality and atmosphere, as well as specifics for factors such as portion size. Google offers maps, star ratings, photos, and user content to facilitate delving into the details about a local business. Yahoo provided limited information about the local restaurant that I searched for. Yahoo delivered overall star ratings, a map, business hours, and pricing information.
Health Bing provides shortcuts to top-notch health resources such as the Mayo Clinic when you search for diabetes, influenza, or other health-related issues. Using the Explorer Pane, users can drill down into symptoms and prevention categories. Yahoo Health search results pull up details on topics such as influenza, plus additional information on symptoms, causes, and treatments. Yahoo Health also lists informational videos related to your search. However Googles big health strategy has less to do with search and more to do withGoogle Health, a program for storing your medical records online, finding doctors, and connecting with online health services.
Maps Bing Maps offers nothing that Live Search didnt already have. But both Bing (at the bottom) and Google Maps supply a great many controls and direction tools in the balloon window that marks the address youre seeking. Google has cool map tools such as Street Views, while Bing counters with amazingly crisp Birds Eye View images of many towns and cities. Yahoo breaks out direction tools in the left side of the Web page. Yahoo Maps gives you the option of viewing satellite images however, images we saw of the Boston area seemed old compared with the satellite images offered by Bing and Google Maps.
As discussed in detail before, Bing is no Google killer. However, with an integration of Yahoo Search and Bing on the horizon, Google needs to get their act together when it comes to Futurecast technology that both Yahoo and Bing currently lead in. Bing is in summary, much more visually appealing, lighter, quicker and more futuristic. It is what the consumers have been asking for and Microsoft knows it. However, you never really know, Google is known for surprising its customers with game changing ideas all the time. With the company now exploring new avenues such as the mobile phone and tablet market, it needs to realize that their days as number one are numbered if they dont innovate quickly.
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