Unlike Search Engines, Answers.Com Responds
For all of their popularity and importance, search services like Google have a significant limitation: They don't answer questions or provide information directly. If you want to know the biography of a historical figure, the meaning of a word or the size of a city, Google and its competitors usually won't simply tell you. Instead, they will generate a list of Web sites where the answers might -- or might not -- be found.
If you are lucky, you may be able to quickly find an answer by skimming the summary text of the Web pages listed in the results. Google also places a little-known link called "Definition" in tiny type at the top right of many results pages.
Several of the other major search sites have taken more, but still limited, steps toward providing answers. Microsoft's new MSN Search provides direct answers to some search queries, like the populations of cities, at the top of the list of Web links. Ask Jeeves does something similar on certain queries. Amazon's A9 search service has a button called "reference" that provides some direct answers.
But now there is an entire search service devoted to providing direct answers to search queries. It is called Answers.com, and it is available at
www.answers.com. Using a variety of reference sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, it generates a thoughtfully organized page of relevant information about your search query without requiring you to click on any further Web links.
Answers.com comes from GuruNet, an Israeli company that developed a little-known, but slick, reference utility called GuruNet a few years back. With GuruNet, when you held down the Alt key and clicked on any word on any screen on your computer, the program produced a tabbed window with definitions, encyclopedia articles, and other information related to the word. GuruNet also powers the reference section of the A9 search service.
Now, with Answers.com, the company has expanded its reference sources, added many more topics, and morphed GuruNet into a full-blown search service you can call up from any major Web browser. You can still get the old GuruNet functionality, which works without requiring you to start in a Web browser.
Here is an example of how Answers.com differs from normal search services. Suppose you want information on the city of Seattle. In Google, if you type in "Seattle," you get a long list of Web links, starting with the city's official Web site. At the top are links to maps of Seattle, and to news about Seattle.
Yahoo and MSN are worse, putting real-estate ads on top of their Web results. Ask Jeeves gives you a map and some local links, followed by a zillion ads. But other than the Ask Jeeves map, none gives you direct information. You must click on further links to learn anything.
The same search in Answers.com is radically different. You see a well-formatted page that includes a definition from the American Heritage dictionary. That is followed by a longer, but still compact, article on Seattle from the Columbia Encyclopedia. And that is followed by sections on current weather, and the local time. Then, there is a very long article on Seattle, with detailed maps, from the public, open-source Wikipedia encyclopedia.
To avoid a lot of scrolling, Answers.com provides a box at the upper left that allows you to quickly jump to each portion of the results page -- Dictionary, Encyclopedia, etc. You can also click once to get a Google Web search on Seattle. It also offers links to relevant blogs on a topic, to image searches and other resources.
Similarly, if you search for Tom Brady, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback of my beloved New England Patriots, Answers.com gives you a brief biography from a service called Who2, followed by a longer Wikipedia article. Google, Yahoo and MSN give you pages of links, topped by ads. Ask Jeeves does a little better, but not as well as Answers.com. It provides the first few sentences of a biography, before several ads.
Answers.com is free, and it does have ads. But they are listed down the right side of its results pages, never atop the actual answers.
You can also download optional free software from Answers.com that works like the old GuruNet program, allowing you to get answers by Alt-clicking on any word on any screen. In Windows, this download also includes a toolbar for Internet Explorer and a search box that's always available in the lower-right corner of your screen. If you use the Firefox browser, you can download an optional Answers.com plug-in that works with the browser's built-in search box.
On the Mac, the optional GuruNet software enables you to select any word on any screen, highlight it and press some keys to get results.
There are some downsides to Answers.com. It has answers for only about a million available topics so far. And it relies heavily on Wikipedia, which has been criticized because it isn't written or edited by experts. But unlike some recognized sources like the online Encyclopedia Britannica, Answers.com is free and instantly searches multiple reference works from multiple publishers.
Answers.com is also a start toward a new search paradigm where the object is to provide real instant information, not just links to pages where that information may, or may not, be found. I urge you to try it.
网络搜索新生代：Answers.com
尽管Google等网络搜索引擎广受欢迎并且非常重要，但还是存在著很大的局限性：它们不会回答问题、或者说不会直接给出你想要的信息。如果你想知道一个历史人物的生平、一个词的含义或者一座城市的规模，Google及其竞争对手通常不会直接告诉你答案，相反，它们会列出许多网站，里面可能有也可能没有你想要找的东西。
如果幸运，你在浏览搜索结果的网页概览中可能会很快找到答案。另外，大多数人可能还不知道的是，Google在许多搜索结果页面的右上角放了一个字体很小的“定义”(Definition)链接。
其它几家大型网络搜索引擎在直接提供答案方面迈出了更大的步伐，但仍然有限。微软(Microsoft)的新MSN搜索网站在处理某些查询时会在网址列项上方给出直接答案，比如某个城市的人口是多少这样的问题。Ask Jeeves对某些查询也提供类似功能。亚马逊(Amazon)的A9搜索服务有一个“参考”(reference)按钮，也能提供一些直接的答案。
但现在有一个完全是对查询请求提供直接答案的搜索服务。这项服务名为Answers.com，可通过
www.answers.com网站获得。该网站使用了字典和百科全书等各种参考来源，它能对你的查询要求给出一个含有相关信息的精致页面，你无需再点击进入任何其它的网站。
ANSWERS.COM是以色列公司GuruNet的产品，GuruNet在数年前开发了一个默默无闻但非常灵巧的参考工具－－GuruNet。在使用GuruNet时，你按住Alt键并点击电脑屏幕上任意一个字，这个程序就会生成一个窗口，里面包含了定义、百科全书文章等与这个字相关的各种信息。GuruNet还为A9搜索服务中的“参考”功能提供技术。
现在，这家公司拓宽了其参考来源，增加了更多的主题， 将GuruNet重塑成为一种你可以在任何一种主要的网络浏览器上使用的、完全成熟的搜索服务，这就是Answers.com。你仍然可以使用旧的GuruNet功能，并且在使用时无需开启浏览器。
下面一个例子显示了Answers.com与普通搜索引擎服务的不同之处。假设你希望得到关于西雅图的信息。在Google中，你输入“西雅图”会得到一大串网址，排在第一个的是该城市的官方网站。在页面顶端，是有关西雅图地图和西雅图新闻的一些链接。
雅虎(Yahoo)和MSN的做法更糟，它们将一些房地产广告放在搜索结果的上方。Ask Jeeves给出的是一个地图和一些当地网站的链接，然后是数不胜数的广告。但是除了Ask Jeeves提供的地图，没有一个搜索网站给出直接的信息。如果要得到想要的信息，你必须点击一些链接。
同样的搜索在Answers.com会得到一个完全不同的结果。你会看到一个内容齐整的页面，首先是《美语大字典》(American Heritage)对西雅图的一个定义。紧接著，是《哥伦比亚百科全书》(Columbia Encyclopedia)的一篇内容较长但仍很紧凑的关于西雅图的文章。再往下是该城市现在的天气情况及当地时间的介绍。然后是一篇关于西雅图的包含详细地图的长篇文章，来源是对公众开放的维基百科全书(Wikipedia encyclopedia)。
为了避免来来回回滚动页面造成的不便，Answers.com在左上方提供了一个目录框，通过它你可以快速跳到想看的内容部分－－如字典、百科全书等。你只要轻轻一点还可以进入Google页面，浏览它搜索到的西雅图相关页面。它还提供相关主题的blog、图片搜索以及其他资源的链接。
同样的，如果你搜索“超级碗”获得者、我所锺爱的新英格兰爱国者队(New England Patriots)四分卫汤姆?布兰迪(Tom Brady)，Answers.com会提供一份他的生平，来源是一家名为Who2的公司，然后是一篇较长一些的维基百科文章。Google、雅虎和MSN给你的是数页的链接，并且最上方全是广告。Ask Jeeves稍好一些，但还是不及Answers.com－－先是一份生平的前几句，然后是数则广告。
Answers.com是免费的，它也有广告。但是广告列在搜索结果页面的右下方，从不会出现在真正答案的上方。
你还可以从Answer.com下载一个可选的类似于GuruNet的免费软件，你在按住Alt键的同时点击屏幕上的任何一个字，就会得到答案。在Windows系统中，下载的软件还包括用于Internet Explorer的一个工具栏和一个永远可以在屏幕右下脚找到的搜索框。如果你使用Firefox浏览器，你可以下载一个可选的Answers.com插件，以匹配该浏览器内置的搜索匣。
在Mac机上，可选的GuruNet软件能够让你选择屏幕上任何一个词汇，做好标记，然后按某些键获得结果。
Answers.com存在著一些不足之处。到目前为止，它只能对大约100万个主题给出答案。它严重依赖维基百科，而这部百科全书因为不是由专家编写及修订而遭到非议。但是与一些公认的消息来源不同，比如《大英百科全书》(Encyclopedia Britannica)网络版，Answers.com是免费的，并且能够立即搜索多个出版商的多种参考著作。
Answers.com还开创了一种搜索新模式的先河，这种新模式的目标是提供真正的即时信息，而不仅仅是找到一些不一定包含有这些信息的网页链接。我强烈建议你体验一下这项服务。
