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I guess the difference is that what google does is already somewhat fuzzy, when you search for something you're not necessarily even sure what you want the sear
by jiggy2011 13y ago
I guess the difference is that what google does is already somewhat fuzzy, when you search for something you're not necessarily even sure what you want the search engine to return. We also don't expect the results to necessarily be perfect which is why the search engine returns more than one result.
On the other hand when you're trying to do some specific task you already know in most cases exactly what you want to happen, so if it does something else then that is very frustrating.
- stelonix 13y agoWell, that's the trade off I'm hoping people are willing to make. Just like we did it for search back when Google was new, for example: we had to learn how to use Google compared to whichever search engine we were using before. It's just like trying to learn a new application. I do believe unless the whole computing system/environment works in this new paradigm, the effort wouldn't have as much impact as I'm picturing in my mind.
- jiggy2011 13y agoGoogle is good for searching immensely vast troves of information simply because there is no other way you could really do it. A categorical index of the entire internet would be fairly un-feasible. OTOH when we have smaller and more focused collections of information such as programming documentation or catalogues of similar products we tend to find it easier to navigate with categorical listings or simpler search algorithms.
- takluyver 13y agoI've heard this idea encapsulated in a neat phrase: 'Control interfaces should not be intelligent'. I think I first read that after Wolfram Alpha was launched.