Several times this year I've read proclamations from journalists and consultants that 2004 will be "The Year of Search." My first reaction was "didn't search already arrive?" Is there anybody with Web access who hasn't heard of Google? Doesn't every personal computer have a file and an attribute search system? And doesn't every intranet and email system have some facility for searching? On reflection, I see three reasons why search has indeed emerged on corporate radar screens. First, the relentless growth of storage and information types is overwhelming us all. Personal computer hard-drive storage has increased from megabytes to gigabytes. Aggregate corporate repository sizes are moving from terabytes towards exabytes (millions of gigabytes). Sooner or later, like the proverbial frogs in a pot of water reaching the boiling point, some grow accustomed to the increasing heat. Smart, survivor frogs jump out of the pot like crazy.
展开▼
