I try to avoid partisan posts about my employer on this blog, but a recent blog post I read was so out of line that I feel the need to respond here personally.
In a post entitled “The Future of Search is Simpler“, the Enterprise Search blog states that
Google provided a clear vision: you can be up and operational in one day and search everything….While other companies are marching to that vision. Dieselpoint’s OpenPipeline, Endeca’s simple administrative controls, Fast’s navigators, Autonomy’s categorization, Google is providing the vision.
I’ll let other companies speak for themselves, but I can state with certainty that Endeca is not marching to Google’s vision. As I’ve discussed here repeatedly, enterprise search is not a problem that can be solved by just plugging a box into your intranet.
Google is entitled to its vision of enterprise search, and I wish them the best of luck in their efforts. But please don’t accuse Endeca of following that vision.
The Noisy Channel 
3 replies on “Not Marching to Google’s Vision”
Certainly, in Business Intelligence (BI) in general, we have to move away from expert-driven “intelligence” and let the crowd (me, you and my neighbor) make the tool into what they need to be.
The days when you went to the golf course with the CEO, sold him expensive software that nobody would ever use, then come back the year after and ask for even more money… these days are gone. Oh! Oracle and others still pull it out… but for how long?
Disclaimer: I have no idea what Endeca sells exactly.
LikeLike
Endeca sells an information access platform that enterprises use to power enterprise search, business intelligence, and other business applications that defy easy categorization. You can learn about customers at http://www.endeca.com/customers/
I agree (and am delighted) that the days of selling expensive shelf-ware are numbered. I am also proud that, while Endeca might not be making as much revenue as some of the more established enterprise software players, our customers are using our software–sometimes in very cool ways! And we’re not doing too badly: http://www.endeca.com/corporate-info/press-room/pr/pr_2008-7-30.html
Anyway, I don”t mean to rent this space out to Endeca’s marketing department, which in any case has not approved this message! Rather, I wanted to express my objection to shoddy analysis that not only mischaracterized my employer, but contradicted the vision I’ve been advocating personally.
LikeLike
It’s been suggested to me that the post was simply intended as a compliment to the simplicity of Endeca’s administrative tools. If so, I apologize to the folks at New Idea Engineering for overreacting.
LikeLike