Could IBM Shake up the Search Engine World?

overshoot writes "IBM has just tossed a bucket of chum into the whole search showdown, which Microsoft thought was between them and Google. Apparently, IBM Research has developed a 'key facts' search technology (as distinct from 'key words') over the last several years. Now they're going public with it -- by putting it on SourceForge under an OSS license!" (According to the article, it's expected to show up on SourceForge by the end of this year, not immediately.)

Comments

ok but

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll stick to letting Google know every single detail of my life thanks.

Yay.

[Sinryc]

Yay, now EVERYONE can make their own Search Engine and say how they are SO much better then everyone elses!

Re:Yay.

[gstoddart]

Yay, now EVERYONE can make their own Search Engine and say how they are SO much better then everyone elses!

Well, let's just hope it becomes one big, honkin' FOSS project.

Search technology is huge. Having it available which apparently can index conceptual links as opposed to literal links is astounding.

I say smart move on IBM's side. Get all the publicity of opening up really cool tech to the open-source community, then proceed to make a gazillion dollars in professional services gigs, and get the added benefit of everyone making your tech better because it's useful.

Provided this isn't steamingly fresh technology (unlikely from IBM realy) they should see some interest in this.

I for one, can imagine a nice bunch of associative content, and am wondering how much resources this might require to run on a machine and I'm going to go RTFA. =)

http://almaden.ibm.com/cs/crawler

[Urgo]

wfp2.almaden.ibm.com - - [08/Aug/2005:15:48:34 -0400] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 200 69 "-" "http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/crawler [fc7]"
wfp2.almaden.ibm.com - - [08/Aug/2005:15:48:38 -0400] "GET / HTTP/1.0" 200 41317 "-" "http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/crawler [fc7]"

I've been getting once a day connections on my server from ibm for quite some time now (a year or so). Doesn't surprise me in the least. :)

not a web search engine

[sled]

From TFA: "While simple but powerful keyword searches have revolutionized how Internet users locate and retrieve information, IBM is looking to transform how office workers sift through the piles of data stored inside organizations."

The posting implies that IBM is entering into competition with MS and Google. I saw no indication that IBM intends to launch a web search engine.

chum and guns

[Burz]

a bucket of chum into the whole search showdown,

This is an awful mixed metaphor. How does Slashdot expect its readers to navigate the treacherous IT seas with such poorly-seasoned and half-baked information?

Re:chum and guns

[overshoot]

This is an awful mixed metaphor. How does Slashdot expect its readers to navigate the treacherous IT seas with such poorly-seasoned and half-baked information?

It's easy when you're three sheets to the wind, even if you pepper your reply with editorial condiments. Anyway, the goose is sufficiently sauced to be worth a gander.

Re:chum and guns

[CaptainCarrot]

I know! It throws a monkey wrench into that entire kettle of fish! There's no foothold you could sink your teeth into! It blows your mind from the ground up!

...and so forth.

what about yahoo!?

[dezmund]

MSN thought it was between them and google?
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050 722/tc_cmp/166401634
sorry bill, but if anything its between yahoo (22% share of all searches) and google (47%).

Not to mention most of those MSN searches (12%) are from IE users who don't know how to change their browser's start page.

Just ignore the link in the slashdot item

[hackwrench]

The important information is simply the url http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/uima/

Re:Just ignore the link in the slashdot item

[SnprBoB86]

Definitely read/skim the SDK User's Guide http://dl.alphaworks.ibm.com/technologies/uima/UIM A_SDK_Users_Guide_Reference.pdf

The annotator premise is almost too simple; it's brilliant.

Little to do with opponents...

[AutopsyReport]

From the article... "I don't see any of the major players moving into this area," Arthur Ciccolo, head of search technology at IBM Research, said of how major consumer Internet search companies such as Google, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft have focused on the public Internet instead of private record data retrieval.

And from the Slashdot summary... IBM has just tossed a bucket of chum into the whole search showdown, which Microsoft thought was between them and Google.

No, IBM's technology has little to do with Google, Yahoo or Microsoft's search technology. This isn't a competition until either three introduce similar technology. Reading the article's third paragraph would clarify this, and would make the summary a little more accurate, too.

Why wait for SourceForge?

[r_jensen11]

It's available now. As the article says:

UIMA technology is expected to be made available through open-source software site SourceForge by the end of 2005. The UIMA framework can currently be downloaded free of charge from IBM AlphaWorks at http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/uima/.

So, I ask, why wait for it to appear on SF if we can get it now?

Just for Reference

[AoT]

10 tads = 1 few

10 fews = 1 some

10 somes = 1 alot

10 alots = 1 load

10 loads = 1 buttload

10 buttloads = 1 assload

10 assloads = 1 shitload

10 shitloads = 1 fuckload

I do not have the book here or I would give the non-metric chart, you know how hard it is to remeber how many hogsheads are in an imperial buttload?