Another topic for discussion in 2007, as we count down to the new year
2. Will Wikiasari heat up the search wars?
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has set his sights on giving Google a run for its money, with his planned community-based search engine – Wikiasari ("wiki" meaning "quick" in Hawaiian, and "asari" meaning "rummaging search" in Japanese). He told the Times newspaper that he plans to launch a commercial version of Wikiasari early in 2007. But unlike Wikipedia, a not-for-profit project, this will be run by Wikia Inc, Wales' private company, which has secured backing from Amazon and other financiers. The big question is whether Wales can marry the energy and enthusiasm of his dedicated band of followers with a for-profit enterprise. Little has yet been revealed about how the project will generate cash, or how it will reward the specialists who will make the search results more compelling. The Amazon connection is interesting, as Amazon pulled back from its A9.com search engine project in September 2006. Will there be technology link-ups with A9? Wales has certainly picked a ripe target – many Google search results are increasingly failing to match up to those of rivals MSN and Yahoo. Could 2007 be the year that the shine goes off Google?
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