Even kids know that Google has its own way to analyze the popularity and usefulness of a webpage using their own link analysis algorithm, dubbed PageRank. But very few people are aware of Hyper Search the first published technique to introduce link analysis for search engines.
Massimo Marchiori, an Italian Mathematician and computer scientist, created the Hyper search technique on April 7th 1997. The Goal of Hyper search was to analyze results not only on the ranks of single pages, but also on the relationship between the single pages and the entire web taken together. When Google co founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin introduced their own link parsing algorithm in 1998, they cited Marchiori, Garfield and Kleinberg in their original paper.
14 years later, Marchiori is planning to shake the web with his new venture, nick named Volunia.
It is a new search engine. It’s not like a Google improved by 10 percent that gives you a new perspective to find what you are looking for. Instead, it’s a perspective completely different from the normal search engines that exist now. It’s a new radical view of what a search engine of the future could be., says Marchiori, when he was interviewed by Coreiere della Serra.
Volunia is expected to launch during early 2012 and is now accepting beta signups for power users. Power users will be given a chance to test the features before the search engine goes live in 12 international languages. Here is the introductory video where Mr. Marchiori explains what Volunia is all about:
We are not focusing on creating a better search engine than Google. What we really want to do is offer a different perspective of search. I can’t reveal the details right now, given the fact that a company like Google, for example, would have no problems in setting up a team of 100 engineers to work day and night on our idea, Marchiori said.
In my opinion, it will take more than an algorithm to get past Google’s huge dominance on search market. Whenever someone produced innovation (YouTube for example), they were either acquired or killed. Starting 2000, Google won users who never knew what the heck a search engine is in the first place. Volunia has to deal with an already educated audience.
Marchiori never boarded the commercial ship of Larry and Sergey. He walked away, but its never too late.