John Archambault:
Digitalist
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| June 7, 2007 |
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| Google and the Semantic Web | |||
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Google has become the most powerful company in digital technology - more powerful than Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple or Dell - and the quality of their products is unmatched. But with search being the economic engine that drives their innovations, it is legitimate to wonder if the advent of the semantic web will be something that makes Google just another internet company, or if they will adapt to the changing landscape of search so as to maintain, and possibly even enhance, its position in the digital world. Google is constantly refining its search engine, and I have no doubt that they are working on ways to incorporate the semantic web into future versions of their search algorithms. But with the exact manner in which the semantic web takes shape yet to be determined, it would be really easy for a small start-up to create an innovative tool that knocks Google off its perch. It would be the same as Achilles getting killed by an arrow that strikes his heel, and it could easily happen - after all, Google was once that company. Can they maintain their edge? It is my opinion that Google will be the leader in semantic search, primarily because of the creative freedom given to their employees. It is this freedom, paired with the totality of Google's intellectual capital, that gives them the ability to develop the best new products and find innovative solutions to problems. All this happens in spite of the fact that Google is so much larger and more bureaucratic than it once was - something which ordinarily might inhibit such innovations. Still, the undefined nature of a semantic application's look and feel will give small David-like organizations the opportunity to knock off Google's Goliath. The only sure thing is that the leader in semantic search will make a lot of money in advertising - and probably become the next big thing. |
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