The Search Matrix

Defining Search Engines

The primary purpose of a search engine is to direct users to data relevant to their query. This is done by returning a set of pointers to data - “links” along with a preview (small subset) of the data. A search engine can obtain such links in any way, including:

- crawling the web autonomously
- structured XML feeds (eg sitemaps)
- manual user submission

The distributed and hyperlinked nature of the web allows users to publish data at a single location, allowing it to be discovered by other users and search engines. In contrast to pushing data to users by publishing it in various locations, this approach eliminates management and versioning problems if data needs to be updated. In other words, allowing search engines to discover your data is better than publishing it in various centralized databases (web applications such as classified listings sites, Google Base, etc).

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Artemi Krymski on April 27th, 2006 | 5 Comments

Defining Web OS

After reading this article about Web Operating Systems I couldn’t help but making my view on the subject public: the only Web OS there will ever be already exists - its the browser.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Artemi Krymski on April 27th, 2006 | 1 Comment