:: First Look :: Babylon Vs. GuruNet ::

You pick a word, anywhere, and...

"You just press and click".

Babylon is one of those essentials. It has been there on my old PC back in 1997, arrived one day at my work desktop, just to be deserted and re-emerge in my new Home PC. It than took it six months to arrive at my new workplace desktop and it stayed. I noticed I had a lot of interaction with Babylon over the years. It was never the first thing I Installed (Netscape was) and not the second (WinZip was). But somehow, some day I needed it and got it. I would have paid for it had I've been asked to, but no one ever did.

" You just Shift and Right click and it translates".

GuruNet is one of those enigmas. When it launched a year ago it seemed to be a sure hit. Instant access to information, not just translation, and with an easy to use interface that should be taught in design classes. I thought it's going to be a hit when I saw it. Two weeks later I disabled it, one afternoon I uninstalled it and it was gone. I don't need it. As far as I can tell I was not the only one it happened to.

"You just Alt and click and it's gone".

Now Babylon is launching a new version. Which beside the translation does what GuruNet does - Instant access to information. It does it in an interface that should be taught in design classes as an example of what not to do, but it still translates.

"You just click, and stop, and think".

Instant access to information has a business model embedded into it - it directs traffic - and traffic direction is worth money. So this is good for Babylon. But if people didn't use this at GuruNet - where is traffic going to come from? Tough question.

I'm not decisive about the new Babylon and what it will do - but I'm keeping the old version just in case. And as for GuruNet - they have hotshot investors and hotshot management and they can make it, maybe. Things are not easy for both. But if I had to make a bet and just had to choose one - I would have gone with my gut. I'll just remind myself that I would have paid for Babylon had I've been asked to.

Would you?

And if so, which would you bet on?

Wadi Writer #1 (Gray)

WadiList@mail.com

Links:
http://www.gurunet.com
http://www.babylon.com