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Gigablast

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This article is about the search engine. For the internet service product, see Cox Communications § Cox High Speed Internet.
Gigablast
Home page as of January 2019
Type of site
Search engine
Available inEnglish
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000)
DissolvedApril 2023; 19 months ago (April 2023)
HeadquartersAlbuquerque, New Mexico, United States[1]
OwnerGigablast, Inc.
Created byMatt Wells
RegistrationOptional
Launched2002; 22 years ago (2002)[2][3]
Current statusOffline
Written inC/C++
gb
Developer(s)Matt Wells
Final release
1.20-1 (x64,[4] i386[5])
Repositoryhttps://github.com/gigablast/open-source-search-engine
Written inC/C++
Operating systemLinux
Typesearch engine
LicenseApache License 2.0
Websitewww.gigablast.com

Gigablast was an American free and open-source web search engine and directory. Founded in 2000, it was an independent engine and web crawler,[6] developed and maintained by Matt Wells, a former Infoseek employee and New Mexico Tech graduate.[7] During early April 2023, the website went offline without warning and without any official statement. A "Gigablast.org" (as opposed to .com) later appeared, with the same branding.

The open-source search engine source code is written in the programming languages C and C++. It was released as open-source software under the Apache License version 2, in July 2013.[8] In 2015, Gigablast claimed to have indexed over 12 billion web pages.[9]

The Gigablast engine provided search results to other companies at various times, including Ixquick,[10] Clusty,[11] Zuula, Snap,[12] Blingo, and Internet Archive.[13]

Background

Matt Wells worked for the Infoseek search engine until he left in 1999, to start working on what would become Gigablast, coding everything from scratch in C++. It was originally designed to index up to 200 billion web pages.[14] Gigablast went into beta release on July 21, 2002.[15]

Features

Gigablast supported various specialized searches and Boolean algebra operators.[16] It also supported a related-concept feature called Giga Bits[17] and a blog-search feature.[18]

A feature called Gigabits provided relevant information in addition to what the user was searching for.[19]

Gigablast also claimed to be, as of 2010, the "leading" clean energy search engine with 90 percent of its power coming from wind energy.[20]

Acquisition

In 2013, it was reported that Yippy had agreed to acquire Gigablast Inc.[21] However, later on, Gigablast author Matt Wells said that no acquisition took place and that Gigablast remained independent.[13]

Critical reception

In 2003, The New York Times columnist Lee Dembart stated that "Gigablast has its adherents", but opined that Google is "head and shoulders" above it, and adds that Google's search results are more complete.[22] In 2016, a Lifewire reviewer felt that Gigablast is easy to use and liked the Gigabits feature.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Gigablast Inc". Yellowpages.
  2. ^ Notess, Greg R. (31 March 2008). "Review of Gigablast". Search Engine Showdown. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  3. ^ Chamberlain, Ellen (2000). "Bare Bones lesson 14: GIGABLAST". Bare Bones 101: A basic tutorial on searching the web. The University of South Carolina Beaufort.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2023-03-01. Retrieved 2018-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2018-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Burge, Randy (11 June 2007). "New Mexico's soil fertile for brainchilds". Albuquerque Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  7. ^ Wells, Matt. "Matt Wells' Career Highlights". Gigablast. Archived from the original on 23 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Gigablast Now an Open Source Search Engine". PR Newswire. 30 July 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  9. ^ Wells, Matt. "FAQ". Gigablast. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016.
  10. ^ "Ixquick Q&A" (PDF). Ixquick. January 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  11. ^ "Do Alternative Search Engines Measure Up?". PC World. 23 October 2007. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  12. ^ Delaney, Kevin J. (6 October 2004). "Snap Enters Field Of Search Engines With Some Twists". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  13. ^ a b Gigablast (1 July 2015). "Gigablast to Build the Biggest Search Engine". PR Newswire.
  14. ^ "Search Engine Optimization Advice for Gigablast". Metamend. Archived from the original on 2018-03-05. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  15. ^ Notess, Greg R. (21 July 2002). "New! GigaBlast in Beta". Search Engine Showdown. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  16. ^ Rubenking, Janet (1 February 2003). "Search Smarter". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  17. ^ Shaw, Maura D. (2007). "Conducting Advanced Searches". Mastering Online Research: A Comprehensive Guide to Effective and Efficient Search Strategies. Writer's Digest. p. 81. ISBN 978-1582974583.[permanent dead link‍]
  18. ^ Arrington, Michael (9 July 2005). "Profile – Gigablast (Blog Search)". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  19. ^ Radhakrishnan, Arun (28 August 2007). "GigaBlast Search Engine : Hand Built Algorithmic Search". Search Engine Journal.
  20. ^ Notess, Greg R. (19 May 2010). "Remember Gigablast?". Search Engine Showdown. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  21. ^ Arnold, Stephen E. (19 July 2013). "Acquisition of Gigablast by Yippy Leaves Some Questions Unanswered". ArnoldIT.
  22. ^ Dembart, Lee (March 24, 2003). "Being Googled". The New York Times. Google is indispensable to anyone who uses the Internet. It isn't the only search engine — Teoma has its adherents, as does Gigablast — but Google is head and shoulders above the others.
  23. ^ Collins, Jerri (18 October 2016). "Search the Web with Gigablast". Archived from the original on 15 January 2019.

Bibliography

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