January 2, 2007 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Jimmy Wales is making news again, this time with Wikiasari, a search engine that is intended to compete with Google.
The modal he Wales made famous through wikipedia, that of “user-driven content’, will again be utilized, as will utilization of open source search technology. The engine will be ‘wiki-based’ and driven by volunteer users and Apache's open source search technology.
Mr. Wales announced his plans last week suggesting we something could emerge as early as the first quarter of 2007. Since the announcement there has been considerable speculation about what this might mean to the industry, especially as it relates to Google.
Unlike Mr. Wales’ previous ventures, Wikiasari will be intended to generate profit, primarily through venture capital injection from big internet players - Amazon.com is one of the names being mentioned.
One of the reasons touted for Wikiasari’s likely success is that it will adopt ‘personalized’ searches and abandon the concept of a set algorithm for all occasions. Search results will differ by taking the individual’s requirements into consideration. In addition, users’ choice on how items should appear will influence their ranking.
People doubting the validity of the proposed methodology see potential for it to be dominated by spammers. In addition, with a reliance on volunteers, it is highly unlikely wikiasari will be able to keep pace with the millions of websites that emerge on a weekly basis. The prospect of a transparent, democratic search engine has though caught the imagination of most observers.
