But you can only really say they are failing, if you are looking at them through a short-term lens. Interviews with Stephen Wolfram give the impression that he

But you can only really say they are failing, if you are looking at them through a short-term lens. Interviews with Stephen Wolfram give the impression that he is thinking long-term (as in, his entire lifetime and beyond). Mathematica does actually seem to have dominated its niche for decades. People did and do all manner of things with it. Wolfram Alpha, their "computational knowledge engine", has only been live for 6.5 years. It's sort of baffling who it is for (but I do, very occasionally, find it extremely useful), but it seems what they are trying to do is bigger than a normal startup that helps you find a taxi or rent out your extra bedroom or search the news. They may well fail, but I don't think you can say that they have failed yet.