Delving into a New Approach to Search - Long-Term Prospects
(Page 4 of 4 )
It’s practically impossible to say anything meaningful about a company’s chances for success when you haven’t seen their product in action. Still, I’d like to point out that Delver does have a number of things going for it. First, their experienced CEO has proven he can create a company from scratch and make it valuable. As CTO of Onigma, he helped build the security firm to a position where it was purchased by McAfee less than two years after its creation for $20 million.
Second, as I mentioned earlier, there’s no one out there doing exactly what Delver is doing. You can search within your own online social networks on some sites, but there’s no easy way to check through all the content you and your friends have posted to several networks simultaneously. You also may miss friends who are on several networks.
Let me give you an example. I belong to Searchles, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, and other sites. Say I’m a costumer and have a query about building a Klingon costume. Let’s further assume that one of my LinkedIn contacts also has a Flickr account that I don’t know about, on which he’s uploaded several very detailed pictures of Klingon costumes. I wouldn’t even think to search my LinkedIn network for this kind of information – but if my LinkedIn contact and I have both claimed all of our accounts, if I understand Delver’s technology correctly, it would turn up those pictures for me. And my contact and I will discover we have something else in common.
Even so, I wouldn’t want to use Delver as my primary search engine. As with other technologies I’ve reviewed, and some that I now use regularly, I could see using it as a supplement to a search engine such as Google. I could even see one of the major search engines buying Delver somewhere down the line. I don’t think that it will be the be-all and end-all of search, but I sent them my information for an invitation to their private beta, and I’m looking forward to seeing the technology in action.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
