Had a first look at Wolfram Alpha and got disappointed. The search engine which had so much of euphoria built around it did not deliver to my expectations. Here are the results of the test drive.
Search 1:Number of internet users in India.
Wolfram gives a number (80m) which seems higher than the number that we had in 2007 (and mentions that the relevant year for this number is 2007. We should be close to 80m this year. There is no way to find out if this was active users or ever users. However, the data is close to the real number that we know of through various studies in India.
Search 2: Mobile users in India
As important as the number of internet users and as actively tracked by digital media enthusiasts as the internet population. This one was a big put off. Wolfram Alpha could not understand what to do with the query, even after trying various versions (cell phone users, count/number of mobile users etc.)
OK, may be Wolfram isn’t tracking India as actively, I moved on to a search for AIDS patients in the US.
Search 3: Number of aids patients in USA
Wolfram Alpha was as clueless as for the mobile users in India.
This, when I have not tried anything which is not non -computational. I think Wolfram Alpha is still prealpha and has been released prematurely. There is a long way to go before it can win my trust and may be yours too.
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