Quintura Search Approaches Launch
Quintura Search brings out version 1.5 boasting “complex query using a map of related words.” It’s generating some buzz as intuitively easy to understand – its display is interactive and lively, with fairly rewarding results.
Some initial questions after I checked-out the demo (I didn’t fool around with the program because you need IE to install). What if the secondary search term you want isn’t displayed? It’s not clear if the order in which you choose the search terms effects the results. Quintura looks to be a great tool for exploration, for example of linguistic association or hierarchal learning, but it’s potential to compete directly with single-entry search looks murky. Even if not a replacement to the titans, Quintura is adding a welcome dimension to the evolution of search.
Microsoft Answers with QnA Beta
Windows Live QnA Beta is expected soon, providing some competition in Q&A service to Yahoo! Answers (free, community/amateurs) and Google Answers (paid researchers, community comments). QnA is a collaborative effort–with individual ranking and community exchange. Based on precedent, Resource Shelf expects it to be free. From Live: “ask any question and get the 411 from people who have the answers you’re looking for. Everybody’s an expert on something–including you–so tap into that collective brain power and contribute your own.” The curious can sign onto the beta list here.
More MSFT: A Froogle Foe, Live Products
TechCrunch makes some comparisons: an important difference between Froogle and Live Products, however. Froogle takes data from merchants via a push model (merchants use a Froogle API to include information), whereas Live Products pulls the data from the main Live Search web index – so Live Producst is presenting crawled results and algorithmic ranking. Merchants will be included if they are in the index without taking any additional steps.
Live Products is not as good as Froogle yet, although a big part of this may be due to the fact that Froogle, with their push model, obtain very structured data from merchants. Live Products, in contrast, structures the data directly.