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Amazon's A9.com Search Engine Goes Live

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the competition-benefits-everyone dept.

scapermoya writes "Today was the official launch day of Amazon's A9.com search engine, which has been in public beta for some time now. It uses results from Google, and adds some personalized features, like bookmarks and search history. Its Java-heavy inteface reminds me of Gmail, which is nice. It doesn't seem like it was designed to supplant Google, but rather to flesh out some things that a certain demographic of people might like."

9 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. java!=javascript by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    not the same thing, not even nearly.

  2. as someone said last time... by fresh27 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...A9 is pretty bloated. It looks nice, but its a little too much for me compared to the slick and minimal style that Google has. A search for 'America' yields a 52.64 KB result page in A9, while that same search yields a 4.36KB page in Google. Size isn't necessarily a problem for me, but I think A9 is trying to pack too much stuff into what should be a simple process. If I want to find movies, I'll go to IMDB, if I want to find books I'll go to Amazon. A9 complicates it rather than simplifying things.

    --
    http://ipod.fresh27.net/
  3. Get a 1.57% discount at Amazon too! by bgarcia · · Score: 5, Informative
    If you log into Amazon, and then go to a9.com and do a search, you will then get an automatic pi/2 discount on every purchase you make at Amazon!

    More details available here

    --
    I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
  4. THIS SOUNDS GREAT!!!! by ferrellcat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean I get to tie ALL of my web searches to a verified identity of myself (Amazon account) complete with credit card and mailing address??? OH BOY!!!!

  5. so basically.... by SpootFinallyRegister · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...its google repackaged with some amazon ads thrown in and plenty of bloat. gee, where do i sign up?

  6. Er... by herichon · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From their current privacy policy here:
    Use of Third Party Service Providers: We may, from time-to-time, employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include sending e-mail and analyzing data. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
    Business Relationships with Third Parties We Do Not Control: We work closely with some third parties. In some cases, we will include offerings from these businesses on A9.com. In other cases, we may include joint offerings from A9.com and these businesses on A9.com. Click here for examples of co-branded and joint offerings. You can tell when a third party is involved in the offering, and we share customer information related to those transactions with that third party.
    My Amazon history + my credit card number + my web searching history (all searches are saved on A9 servers) + Amazon's stated intent to share information with third parties = a little too close to home for me. No thanks, A9... I'll stick with the relative anonymity of Google.
  7. Re:Java-heavy interface? by nick-less · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Its Java-heavy interface
    >
    >You mean Javascript-heavy interface?

    Thats slashdot logic: if its slow and ugly, it must be java...

  8. insane? by gstone · · Score: 5, Funny
    Here is my user experience:


    ummm ... OK? Seriosuly, are these guys insane including unfiltered image search results by default?
  9. Blame NetScape by dozer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This confusion is intentional. NetScape's client-side scripting language was originally going to be called LiveScript. A fine name. However, just before shipping it, they decided that they wanted to tie in with Sun's new marketing juggernaut even though, aside from some superficial syntax similarities, the two languages have nothing in common. Hence Java/JavaScript. Pure unadulterated idiocy!! Don't blame clueless users for this one -- this confusion is exactly what NetScape had in mind when they chose the name.