Comments on: The Greatest Debate conclusion: Om Shanti Shanti http://www.altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/ The most wonderful search engines you've never seen! Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:10:09 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Kaila Colbin http://www.altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/comment-page-1/#comment-10734 Kaila Colbin Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:12:42 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/#comment-10734 Hey there Mark, Thanks for your comment. It touches on a phenomenon that is near and dear to my heart; namely, that the person who frames the question controls the discussion. The example I used when I wrote about it on <a href="http://blog.vortexdna.com/ive-got-nothing-to-hide-and-other-tricky-language/" rel="nofollow">my blog</a> was the arguments leading up to the war in Iraq: by making the issue about whether or not you thought Saddam was a bad guy, a million other issues and repercussions were by definition excluded. In this case, you're suggesting that the index framework dictates how results get displayed -- fortunately, a topic less violent than the one I referred to! But certainly a profound one. How the index gets built impacts how you can develop the interface. How you can develop the interface impacts the design of the UI. The design of the UI impacts the user's search experience. And are you really a veteran of Powerset? It's only just starting! How can you be a veteran already? Hey there Mark,

Thanks for your comment. It touches on a phenomenon that is near and dear to my heart; namely, that the person who frames the question controls the discussion. The example I used when I wrote about it on my blog was the arguments leading up to the war in Iraq: by making the issue about whether or not you thought Saddam was a bad guy, a million other issues and repercussions were by definition excluded.

In this case, you’re suggesting that the index framework dictates how results get displayed — fortunately, a topic less violent than the one I referred to! But certainly a profound one. How the index gets built impacts how you can develop the interface. How you can develop the interface impacts the design of the UI. The design of the UI impacts the user’s search experience.

And are you really a veteran of Powerset? It’s only just starting! How can you be a veteran already?

]]> By: Charles Knight http://www.altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/comment-page-1/#comment-10676 Charles Knight Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:51:33 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/#comment-10676 Thank you Mark, I truly believe that a "Universal/Unifying" Interface is what stands between the Alts being used regularly or being ignored totally. People cannot select any of the Top 100 in any significant numbers simply because they cannot possibly be familiar with that many. Our two mottoes are "Too many choices" and "Collaborate or Perish." Designing an intuitive, attractive, futuristic UI that serves as the gateway to the best Verticals/Search options is not that hard to imagine. But what then? Thank you Mark,

I truly believe that a “Universal/Unifying” Interface is what stands between the Alts being used regularly or being ignored totally.

People cannot select any of the Top 100 in any significant numbers simply because they cannot possibly be familiar with that many.

Our two mottoes are “Too many choices” and “Collaborate or Perish.”

Designing an intuitive, attractive, futuristic UI that serves as the gateway to the best Verticals/Search options is not that hard to imagine.

But what then?

]]> By: Mark Johnson http://www.altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/comment-page-1/#comment-10675 Mark Johnson Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:24:35 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/09/27/the-greatest-debate-conclusion-om-shanti-shanti/#comment-10675 As a veteran of two search startups, Powerset and Kosmix, I'm convinced that the implication is a bit stronger then you make it. I do agree that you can't win the search engine battle with interface alone. But I'd go further: the only way that you can improve the interface is if you fundamentally change the way data is represented in your index. If you use a Google-like index, then you're not going to be able to change your index much from Google-like results (and, whatever you do is easy to be copied, if successful). As a veteran of two search startups, Powerset and Kosmix, I’m convinced that the implication is a bit stronger then you make it. I do agree that you can’t win the search engine battle with interface alone. But I’d go further: the only way that you can improve the interface is if you fundamentally change the way data is represented in your index. If you use a Google-like index, then you’re not going to be able to change your index much from Google-like results (and, whatever you do is easy to be copied, if successful).

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