Indiana University Dumps Google for ChaCha

theodp writes "Come Monday, no more Indiana University searches will be powered by computer-driven Google. Only by people-powered ChaCha. The move was announced by new IU President Michael McRobbie, who until recently sat on ChaCha's Board of Directors (5-29 SEC filing, PDF). IU will draft hundreds of librarians and IT employees to be ChaCha Guides for the university's websites, although a FAQ accompanying IU's press release tells librarians not to expect any checks for their efforts from ChaCha, which IU notes is backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Compaq founder Rod Canion."

Comments

And quickly!

[khasim]

IU's guides could be asked to locate a building on campus, find a book in one of the university's libraries or solve a question about Windows Vista.

Hmmmm, free tech support! And we all know how well people doing tech support are treated.

Students, faculty and the public could ask the IU guides questions, said Brad Wheeler, IU's vice president for information technology. But he isn't worried about them getting overwhelmed. "If it ever became a huge problem, we can gate it," he said.

So, they stick a bunch of people with tech support responsibilities ... and when that bogs down they restrict the number of calls to them.

And yes, that is what will happen.

The only way this will survive is when the "support" people start telling their "customers" to purchase 3rd party software and such from companies that have purchased "ad time" on those "support" people.

"Hello, I'm running Windows Vista and it won't boot up."
"Have you tried the extreme refreshment of Mountain Dew? Many people who use Windows Vista prefer Mountain Dew."
"Will that help me fix Vista?"
"It might. It couldn't hurt. May I also recommend some Dominoes Pizza?"
"Thanks, I'm not hungry."
"Dominoes Pizza is having a special offer today on pepperoni pizzas."
"Okay, I'll order some pizza. How about my Vista problem?"
"Symantec sells a wide range of software products designed to facilitate and enrich your Vista experience."
click

Woo hoo, the Orange Catholic Search Engine!

[zippthorne]

It's like I always say, "Why can't the world be more like a Frank Herbert novel."

Well actually, not always. But once, in my head, while typing. I didn't give much thought to punctuation, though.

Re:Woo hoo, the Orange Catholic Search Engine!

[Jerf]

Suddenly, I want a "This site is powered by MENTATS " badge for my website. (It's a terrible strain on their wrists to put out the pages live like that, but they're very highly trained.)

They could save a ton of money.

[ScrewMaster]

Come Monday, no more Indiana University searches will be powered by computer-driven Google. Only by people-powered ChaCha.

If they took a page (ahem!) out of Google's book and used pigeons instead.

Obligatory Beavis AND Butthead quote

[Anonymous Coward]

Beavis: Diarrhea, ChaChaCha
Butthead: Diarrhea, ChaChaCha
Daria: You guys seriously need to get a life.

meanwhile on an obscure website at the end of the

[martin-boundary]

Googlebotter: It's people. IU Search is made out of people. They're making their index out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding them like cattle for links. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

Slashdotter: I promise, bottie, I promise. I'll tell the geeks.

Googlebotter: You tell everybody. Listen to me, Slashdotter. You've gotta tell them! IU search is people! We've gotta stop them somehow!

Re:Why?

[morgan_greywolf]

What does a Gnome icon theme have to do with Latin American dances or search engines?

The same thing that network file systems have to do with Samba, I think.

What's next?

[Anonymous Coward]

Former CEO of some defense company becomes Secretary of Defense and approves multi-billion dollar contract to that company?

Re:MOD PARENT UP!

[Macgruder]

So what you're saying is, you blew the money-shot?