
Is Search Really 90% Solved?  - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/07/is-search-really-90-solved/
======
jacobscott
I think a key distinction is whether we are talking about the science or
business of search. The science of search is AI-Hard -- good luck with that.

I think it is reasonable to claim that the business of search is 90% solved.
To me this means that Google has reasonable solutions in place for what they
see as 90% of the search market (by revenue/profitability/etc) in the medium
term. They still have plenty of things to improve upon, but what is the
likelihood of another Google (in terms of growth, dominance) coming out of
search?

~~~
akkartik
I too was thinking about what 'X is solved' means:
<http://scrapbook.akkartik.name/post/49196712>

In this context, when google says search is 90% solved, they mean:

a) Any enhancements we or our competitors can make are unlikely to impact more
than 10% of the market.

b) Any enhancements that would impact more than 10% of the market are too hard
to implement right now.

I'm not sure I agree with them, especially since I just figured out what they
mean!

------
KirinDave
The short answer is that search isn't even 10% solved.

It's mind-boggling to me that people are so content to accept search the way
it is right now. All anyone has right now is the first step.

And I'm not just talking algorithmically, I'm talking about user experience
and interaction as well! Right now google's linklist format basically does
nothing to help you refine and dissect information from your initial search.
It doesn't extract meaningful data and bios out from links. It doesn't help
you do common word sense disambiguation. It doesn't help you when your search
terms can be taken in multiple ways.

And there is more yet to be done even in the keyword space search. For
example, if I type "Who is running for president?" (or the keywordese:
president candidates 2008) this may mean something different for a frenchman
than an englishman than an american. Google doesn't really do a lot to help
you here

~~~
streety
Except England, or even the UK, doesn't have a President so we tend to assume
such discussion relates to the US.

The point is valid though.

------
dawie
10 Years ago Yahoo thought they had search figured out.

------
boredguy8
I Mr. Arrington here confuses the process or algorithm of search with the data
on which search operates. Apart from talking about natural language,
everything else speaks to the data, which is of course an interesting problem
(decoding data in streams computers can't currently interpret), but it's not a
search problem.

~~~
akkartik
When google says search is mostly solved it means that search engines are
unlikely to have major user-visible improvements.

------
volida
what is the meaning of 90%?

------
mattmaroon
I guess it would depend on how you define solved. I'd say it's close enough
that I don't find myself trying search engines other than Google these days.

~~~
jwilliams
Indeed - if you're definition was "getting people to realise search is
important", then yeah, 90% might be right.

If 90% is "where did I leave my keys?", then I think we all have a way to go
(me personally more than most).

------
rokhayakebe
Well someone here said it best " The last 10% of your project will take 90% of
your time "

------
dawie
10 Years ago Yahoo thought they had search figured out.

------
herdrick
Nope.

