The almost perfect source

With the launch of Wikiseek, a formidable new player in the field of search engines has shown itself. Wikiseek is probably the best 'specific' information search engine we have today, or it atleast has the potential to be soon.

Though it is considered basically a replacement of the in-built search for Wikipedia, it is definitely much more than that. By offering on the fly suggestions via. tag clouds, top matches for your search from Wikipedia, and links to external pages linked in the article pages, Wikiseek presents itself as a great place to start your searches for information on specific topics.

It is not, however, a place to search for news or opinions or applications or just random things. That is Google's playground. Think of Wikiseek as your search through a library and all it's information, with handy links to external sources which people have found usefully related to the result articles. This works to remove spam and bogus SEO'ed links that plague our top search engines today. An all round win win solution for people :)

It will be formally announced today, but you can ofcourse go ahead and give it a trial run. There is an extension that enables a Wikiseek search inside the normal Wikipedia search toolbox. A visit to the Wikiseek page will put the blue glow in your Firefox search box, to which you can add Wikiseek by clicking on the down arrow and selecting the 'Add Wikiseek' option. It's creator 'Searchme' has said that they'll offer more search engines in the future. Now I don't know if they plan to make an integrated search environment, but they sure seem to be on the right track. Revenue from the searches will go to the Wikimedia foundation, which will really help their cause in keeping quality information free!

This will also help bring much wanted attention to a great repository of information, Wikipedia, in a big way. Wikiseek will ofcourse improve over time, but this sure does promise a lot for a brand new product. If you've always wanted proper and formal information and articles on topics the way encyclopedia's present them, or if you're just looking for content for a project or a research, this is a great place to start your search.