Wolfram Alpha, Google and Wikipedia

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A new way of searching the Internet will be arriving this month under the label Wolfram Alpha, a "knowledge engine" built by Stephen Wolfram. It will give a single definitive answer to users who ask a question rather than pointing to pages of results which may hold the answers for which they look.

Wolfram Alpha, the new system showcased at Harvard University, is the first step toward the Internet's Holy Grail – a global store of information which responds to ordinary language. Although still new, the system has already produced great excitement with Internet watchers.

Computer experts believe the Wolfram Alpha search engine will be an evolutionary leap in the development of the Internet that could prove just as important as Google.
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Some observers believe Wolfram Alpha is a possible Google killer, while others think its importance could equal that of Google, suggesting that potentially Google could be interested in acquiring it.

Still others wonder whether it will affect Wikipedia’s use more than that of Google. Although it won't eliminate the need of Wikipedia for collections of information, biographies, and citations, etc. But for those looking for direct facts, the number of Wikipedia queries could go down - if Wolfram Alpha catches on.


UPDATE: Wolfram Alpha's main page is here, It is already allowing early access to selected individuals, and tentativelyly slated to become accessable to the general public sometime this month.