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Re:Wolfram Alpha will fail for the same reason that Microsof... by amichail on Sunday May 17, 2009 @03:26AM (#613144)
As for why people would buy Mathematica: companies are not going to give away their trade secrets over the web via queries made to Wolfram Alpha.
Re:Wolfram Alpha will fail for the same reason that Microsof... by 10ren on Sunday May 17, 2009 @04:48AM (#613191)
That's a compelling reason for some users. I thought WA would be slow, and that would be a reason to buy a local version (or a subscription to a faster version), but it surprised me how well it coped with the launch load. But after seeing your freemium idea, I've changed my mind to think they'll just leave off some features - that's the standard approach.