KWiCFinder & WebKWiC Compared

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Background
KWiCFinder (Key Word in Context Finder) is a stand-alone search agent which retrieves and excerpts relevant documents identified by AltaVista's search engine.  In contrast, WebKWiC (Web Key Word in Context) complements Google.com's popular search engine to simplify and accelerate the task of online research.  Both programs automate the process of evaluating documents matching your search terms. Each has strengths and weaknesses which reflect  characteristics of the search engines they rely on and the reporting technology they implement. Both are available as free downloads from miniAPPolis.com.  
List of Search Engine and Search Agent Features
In this list, some × could be considered positive, others negative, depending on the user and the purpose of the search. Both search engines and programs are powerful and useful.
AltaVista (KWiCFinder) vs. Google (WebKWiC)
Characteristic AltaVista Google
Full-text search, not human- or machine-analyzed directory × ×
Complex Boolean searches (Google has some limited support for AND, OR, AND NOT, but not for NEAR or for complex queries with bracketing) × ±
Wildcards (stemming) to match variants of the base form entered ×
All words (highly-frequent "stop words") automatically included in results ×
Link-popularity-based search result ranking ×
Distinguishes UPPER-CASE from lower-case characters × ×
Distinguishes spéçîäl from plain characters × ×
Limit Search by Date (Before / After) ×
Refine search by domain (e.g. .fr, .es, .mx, host microsaft.com etc.) × ×
Larger page pool (claims 1.3 billion pages analyzed for links, about 1/2 that number actually indexed) ×
Page language recognition × ×
Pages returned by a search (almost) always available from search engine cache ×
Indexes Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) documents and "invisible" web, i.e. content not directly accessible by links ×
Fewer "dead" links ×
"Rising star" - scope of services offered is growing ×
"Declining star" - scope of services offered is stagnating ×
Paid link ranking (sites which pay a fee appear sooner among results, which skews the ranking) ×
Search engine highlights key words upon request ×
Generally faster searches possible thanks to mirroring of documents in Google's cache ×
Larger variety of search interfaces and options (basic, advanced, "Raging Search" ×
User interface and reports available in numerous localized versions (different languages, with focus on different countries) × ×
KWiCFinder vs. WebKWiC
Characteristic KWiCFinder WebKWiC
Free × ×
Minimum download size 2.2 MB 31 kB
Automatic self-update ×
Easy manual update ×
Intuitive entry of special characters for all Western-European languages × ×
Supports search reports on languages with non-Western-European character sets ×
User specifies the amount of context to show for each citation, and the number of citations per document and documents per internet site to report ×
Supports complex queries, with numerous enhancements to the basic search engine features (BEFORE, AFTER, "sic", Tamecards, selection criteria...)  ×
Wide variety of report format and language options; XML reports permit redisplay at will in any supported language and layout  ×
Interactive reports (citation selection / annotation) in HTML and XML formats ×
Reports consist of excerpts of web pages (typically displayed as a single document), with Key Words shown in Context. Original documents optionally are saved to disk automatically in HTML or text format. ×
Reports consist of entire original web page, with graphics and with Key Words in highlighted Context.  User can save pages to disk via the browser. ×
Searches conducted unobtrusively in the background ×
Multiple searches may be carried out simultaneously, with no a priori limit on the number of documents to be examined ×
Only one search can be carried out at a time, and the number of documents retrieved at a time is limited by system capabilities (typically 20-30 documents) ×
Requires Windows 9x / ME (compatibility with NT / 2000 unknown) and Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher × ×

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http://miniAPPolis.com/KWiCFinderVSWebKWiC.html 7 May 2001