Wolfram Alpha: An invention that could change the internet for ever

The biggest internet revolution for a generation will be unveiled this month with the launch of software that will understand questions and give specific, tailored answers in a way that the web has never managed before.

The new system, Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, takes the first step towards what many consider to be the internet's Holy Grail – a global store of information that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does.

Although the system is still new, it has already produced massive interest and excitement among technology pundits and internet watchers. Computer experts believe the new search engine will be an evolutionary leap in the development of the internet. Nova Spivack, an internet and computer expert, said that Wolfram Alpha could prove just as important as Google. "It is really impressive and significant," he wrote. "In fact it may be as important for the web (and the world) as Google, but for a different purpose.

The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram:

• If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you.
• Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer.
• Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale.
• Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing.
• If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out.