Proof that Henry Blodget Has No Clue

Scandal-ridden-Wall Street-analyst-turned-blogger Henry Blodget has written this morning that Wolfram Alpha launched with “big dreams and no chance,” comparing it to Google and making the point that Google would simply catch up.

If you haven’t seen Wolfram Alpha in action, you might write such a column. But take a quick look at this webcast (h/t Russ Steele), and you’ll see what I mean: Wolfram Alpha is no Google competitor.

In fact, Wolfram Alpha is really not a search engine at all. It’s a user-friendly version of Wolfram’s Mathematica software, with the simple user interface of a single typed command.

That concept is melded with large numbers of smart databases: stock markets, economies, populations, places and geography, chemistry and physics. The result is a “computational engine” that melds that data together in useful ways.

Blodget is missing it if he thinks this is about taking on Google. This is exactly the kind of thing Google would like to do, but they don’t do it right now, and probably don’t have the ability to get it right for years if they started trying. (Not trying to knock Google, but they don’t have the Mathematica platform to build on.)

UPDATE: I thought I’d try some “local data” in a search, and typed in “students at Sierra College” — I haven’t verified the accuracy of this 2007 data, but it’s in the ballpark.