GuruNet: An Immediate Information Source

Need a quick fact or two, perhaps a simple answer to a question? Forget search engines: GuruNet will get you the information you need, better still while you're working on any other program running on your computer at the same time.

How often have you been working on something and just wanted a quick fact without having to go through all the trouble of searching for it with a search engine? Or worse still, having to sort through the search results, hunting for the information that you really need?

For ready reference types of information, GuruNet saves you from all of that. It's a reference tool that has specific, high quality information about more than half a million topics. Just like a search engine, you can enter queries into its search box and get a quick answer. An even better is supplied however; you don't need to put aside what you're working on to use it. Simply highlight words in an email, your word processor or any other Windows program and alt-click, GuruNet will then go and find relevant information for you.

What is GuruNet’s focus?

GuruNet is trying to bring multifaceted information, facts and simple answers to the point of need. The system works as a library metaphor to organise information by subject, making it easy to browse, search, or simply highlight words to get relevant information. You can consider GuruNet as being good at questions of 'who is' and 'what is'.

Examples like, what's the capital of Kyrgyzstan? Bishkek. Who was the Greek god of fire and metalworking? Hephaestus. What is anatidaephobia? The fear that wherever you are, a duck is watching!

If GuruNet can't find the relevant information you need, it has an ingenious trick: it then automatically submits your search question to either Google, AltaVista, Teoma and AlltheWeb, it then displays the results in four separate windows.

Can you rely on the information supplied by GuruNet?

Yes, you should be able to rely on the answers GuruNet finds because it draws from licensed reference sources including Roget's Thesaurus, the Columbia Reference Encyclopaedia, Investopedia, Computer Desktop Encyclopaedia plus many others. For news and current information, it sources from reliable online news, sports and company profile sources. GuruNet is very much like a virtual reference librarian, only with quick answers always at the ready.

What kind of presentation format does GuruNet provide?

How your results are presented back to you can vary based on the type of information you have asked for. Different types of grouped results are offered based on the subject you're interested in.

For example if you wanted to learn about thriller writer Stephen King. You can either search using his name, or browse through GuruNet's categories to the "authors" section of the main "people" category.

Results for King include a biography and links to his books from Amazon.com, quotations from Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, and images and news from Google.

Information on the SARS virus, by contrast, includes a brief description of the disease, the CDC's SARS information page, and so on.

Is GuruNet hard to use?

GuruNet is remarkably easy to use. According to the developers the whole idea is go provide simple, rapid, very intelligent lookup.

In addition to its powerful lookup capabilities, GuruNet has several other useful facilities. It has strong language capabilities allowing results to be easily viewed in up to13 languages. You can set your default to any of these languages, or simply use the translation button to translate the content you're viewing into another language. This works for both GuruNet results and for web page results, making it a very quick way to translate online content.

The program also makes it easy to share information with others. Simply click the email button, and a message is automatically generated with the relevant subject header, and a link to a copy of the content you're viewing located on GuruNet home web site, so there's no need for the recipient of the email to have GuruNet installed to share information.

Is GuruNet intended to replace search engines?

GuruNet isn't a replacement for search engines, or for that matter, librarians. It is not that comprehensive; it is more a form of a rapid lookup tool. It's a useful tool for anyone, especially if they are innately curious about everything.

GuruNet is free to try for 14 days; it can be downloaded from www.gurunet.com web site. The program still functions after the trial period, but without many of the features of the full version.

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au