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I get the strong feeling that this Google vs Alpha silliness is a manifestation of the internet media. Google is likely carefully studying their competitors co

I get the strong feeling that this Google vs Alpha silliness is a manifestation of the internet media. Google is likely carefully studying their competitors continuously and taking prudent actions as necessary. This product doesn't seem like an answer to Alpha as much as it does an interesting 20% project growing up.

huhtenberg 17y ago
I was not referring to the media coverage. I was referring to Google's practice of piggybacking on others' PR efforts - http://www.marksonland.com/2009/04/google_likes_to_steal_others_t.html http://www.marksonland.com/2009/04/google_likes_to_steal_oth.... In Wolfram's case they did it twice in rapid succession. That is what's interesting.
- ErrantX 17y ago
  Perhaps that is not a case of worrying about WA: but using clever tactics to get their new products into media focus. It matters not whether the "New Stuff" from Google is a competitor or reaction to Wolfram or completely unrelated. What matters is the media thinks it is competition and generates all this Google vs. Wolfram media hype :) Wolfram get some sympathy as the underdogs but ultimately it just pushes Google brand (they still just hold the public opinion of not being evil: so if you see a Google vs X discussion you imagine it is Good vs. Good battle and that both products are OK). It's a tactic Google have always used - often to superb effect :)
anigbrowl 17y ago
Quite. This is very different from Alpha (and somethng I've been waiting for from Google for a while). Alpha's not trying to be Google, and this doesn't look like google trying to be Alpha. You know what Alpha reminds me of most (as a tester - try it out yourself on 5.18)? 'Insert Field' in MS word, where you can insert the date & time, or a reference to a cell in an Excel spreadsheet, or some other piece of external data, and have it automatically update every time the document is loaded. It's sort of like having widgets but being able to call them up with a simplistic natural language interface. Not all of Earth's <Alpha: world population> people will appreciate this, but it will probably be popular in <Alpha: countries with most universities per capita>. (see?)

huhtenberg 17y ago

I was not referring to the media coverage. I was referring to Google's practice of piggybacking on others' PR efforts - http://www.marksonland.com/2009/04/google_likes_to_steal_others_t.html http://www.marksonland.com/2009/04/google_likes_to_steal_oth.... In Wolfram's case they did it twice in rapid succession. That is what's interesting.

ErrantX 17y ago
Perhaps that is not a case of worrying about WA: but using clever tactics to get their new products into media focus. It matters not whether the "New Stuff" from Google is a competitor or reaction to Wolfram or completely unrelated. What matters is the media thinks it is competition and generates all this Google vs. Wolfram media hype :) Wolfram get some sympathy as the underdogs but ultimately it just pushes Google brand (they still just hold the public opinion of not being evil: so if you see a Google vs X discussion you imagine it is Good vs. Good battle and that both products are OK). It's a tactic Google have always used - often to superb effect :)

anigbrowl 17y ago

Quite. This is very different from Alpha (and somethng I've been waiting for from Google for a while). Alpha's not trying to be Google, and this doesn't look like google trying to be Alpha. You know what Alpha reminds me of most (as a tester - try it out yourself on 5.18)? 'Insert Field' in MS word, where you can insert the date & time, or a reference to a cell in an Excel spreadsheet, or some other piece of external data, and have it automatically update every time the document is loaded. It's sort of like having widgets but being able to call them up with a simplistic natural language interface. Not all of Earth's <Alpha: world population> people will appreciate this, but it will probably be popular in <Alpha: countries with most universities per capita>. (see?)