Google launches Google Q&A

We were wandering last days what Google is planning next. It didn’t take long and our curiosity was answered: Google Quick Answers.

The novelty associated to this service, launched at the end of the week, the Quick Answers function of the search engine, is taken from Microsoft. Google Q&A is the new feature offered by the search engine, which enables the user to find out unique information and answers to the questions or searches. A similar function was launched by Microsoft through the MSN Search and Encarta service.

The Google Q&A service can also be used by those who are unable to solve a dispute and require an impartial arbiter. The service is available regardless of the location, the Quick Answers function being also available through the cell phone and SMS messaging. Until now, Google was only offering a service that provided information about addresses and urban routes through the cell phone.

Google Q&A is interconnected with many sources, among which: the online Wikipedia encyclopedia, a Wikimedia Foundation project. It’s not clear yet how this new association will affect the relation between Google and GuruNet, owner of the Answers.com site. This site supplies word definitions through Google Search.

The solution launched by Microsoft appeared in the test version in November last year. Using the feedback from users, the company launched at the end of January a final beta version of MSN.com. Microsoft’s purpose was the distancing from its competitors by offering answers to specific questions and not just links. The Microsoft solution is based on a web crawler, called MSNbot, updated two months ago to the 1.0 version; this web crawler indexed 5 billion documents.