The founder of Wikipedia has some lofty goals indeed, and is looking to compete with the giants Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. Jimmy Wales says he's looking to take up to 5% of the search engine market with the launch of a search engine, utilizing a search technology modeled after the Wiki ideal. Claiming that Google may not have as huge of an advantage as they once did, he says the closed-source model can be bested:
"The idea that Google has some edge because they've got super-duper rocket scientists may be a little antiquated now," he said.
Describing the two Internet firms as "black boxes" that won't disclose how they rank search results, Wales said collaborative search technology could transform the power structure of the Internet.
It won't be a charity search, for sure, and as an extension of Wikia will be for-profit and likely funded by advertising. Currently, they already claim to have substantial financial investment from angel investors and Amazon.com