When I first heard about Wolfram Alpha I wondered if it would be the next generation engine that would give Google a run for its money. But looking at now I believe that it does not exactly do what a ‘regular’ search engine like Google does. Wolfram Alpha (the name just rolls naturally off your tongue, doesn’t it?) provides calculations based on data that the user enters – i.e. socioeconomic data by state, weather patterns, probability and even simple mathematics equations.
I have not seen a whole lot of stories about its launch this week, but then again I don’t believe it is not the type of engine that people would normally go to for daily use. For an informed overview of this product and a slightly gloomy prediction for its success I recommend this article from the Silicon Alley Insider.