The key to getting more Windows users to switch to Linux | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

[Oren Beck]

On 6/22/07, Jon Pruente <jdpruente at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 6/22/07, Billy Crook <billycrook at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The author needs to learn how search engines work.  You can't converse
> with
> > them like a person.  "Why choose linux?" is not a smart query.  Maybe
> "linux
> > benefits OR advantages".
>
> This is the problem that Kozoru (the place where all the 1U rackmounts
> servers around KC suddenly came from) was working on.  It worked, but
> when they sat test subjects down and had them use it, they had already
> been "trained" for keyword searching.  They might put in  a few
> questions, but they would shortly revert to keywords and end up
> defeating the advantages of the new tech.  The tech got bought and
> moved to Ask.com, as one of the Ask VPs had a stake in Kozoru.  Ever
> wonder why Ask.com suddenly started doing a bunch of commercials about
> a month or so ago, several months after Kozoru folded and Ask.com had
> time to get it integrated and working?  ;)
>
> Jon.



IIRC "Ask" is the current incarnation of what used to be called "Jeeves"
A naming that was intentionally evocative of an olde English butler.
With cartoonish theming carrying the meme a bit to extreme for many users.
The focus difference with "Jeeves" being that conversational queries were
handled more gracefully than other search engines of that time could. With
the results often being either very much spot on or weirdly way off. I used
it for "game show" questions or soft searches like " how many cover versions
of the Johnny Cash  song  "ring of fire" are there ?

Oren
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