Hakia is definitely going to give Google a run for its money in terms of quality, but whether they will be able to rival them in any business sense is unlikely.

I saw a comment somewhere (maybe TechCrunch?) saying the API key is optional, so the fact that you can back that up is good confirmation. I guess they just use it to keep track of what it’s being used for when they can. Kind of odd, but whatever.

I have degrees in philosophy and have done extensive studies in Jungian linguistics, so I absolutely LOVE anything dealing with semantics and IR systems. I think hakia promises to rival Google in the future. (Well, I don’t really think that, but I certainly hope so! Google’s bastion of Ph.D’s/M.B.A.’s are already working to perfect and patent new semantic machine languages and search algorithms – and even if hakia beats them to the punch, Google will probably just buy them out. But as an entrepreneur, I can still have my dreams.

Incidentally, I figured out how to add the hakia search bar onto one of our SEO pagesg, without having yet received the API key. (I probably shouldn’t say that out loud. But in my defense, I did email them for the key, a while ago, but no one responded.)

At any rate, I’m rambling. In sum, I personally find hakia stimulating, fascinating, educational and innovative.