More on NCSA Study

I am still percolating on a mountain of input about the Yahoo Google size matters debate, but in the meantime, several readers have pointed me to the fact that the NCSA has distanced itself from the “study” done last week which concluded that Yahoo’s claims were possibly false. From the new disclaimer:

The following study was completed by two of Professor Vernon Burton’s students at the University of Illinois. Though one of the students previously worked with Professor Burton at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the study was done outside the scope of any NCSA core projects. When first published online, staff at the NCSA noted several issues with the study, and some revisions have been made to the document to reflect several of these concerns. Changes are detailed at the bottom of this page.

Please note again that this study is not an NCSA publication and was not conducted as part of any NCSA project or under the supervision of NCSA.

Many folks have contacted me pointing out the possible pitfalls of the study’s approach. This does not mean, however, that there are not conclusions which can be drawn from it.



There is much more to this issue (of size, bragging rights, etc.) than meets the eye, and I do intend to write a longer piece, as I said before. I’ve spoken to senior folks at both companies, and also am tracking down third parties. But as I am supposed to be on vacation early this week, I’m going to not rush this one. Stay tuned.