I use them both heavily. Indeed, I link to Wikipedia regularly in iTWire articles as a handy reference source for definition of terms used in the articles (as for the term "SEO" used towards the end of this very article).

Wikipedia provides a good way to look up specific terms like "ADSL" or "nuclear fusion" and expect to get (in most cases) a reasonably balanced targeted article about the topic.

Google is the undisputed king of the search engines. Whether you regard it as a good or bad thing, it's hard to imagine Web life without Google.

If you search for the same ("ADSL" or "nuclear fusion") using Google, you'll get a far wider set of results returned.

You have to examine them all individually before deciding if you've found what you were seeking. Some people think this is a bad thing, and are trying to come up with search engines that automatically categorize, order and display the search results in a more meaningful way.

On 20th November 2008, Google launched SearchWiki with the theme of "make search your own." They are phasing out an experimental search interface, called SearchMash, that they used to test the new interface.

SearchWiki, say Google's Cedric Dupont, Product Manager, and Corin Anderson, Software Engineer, is "a way for you to customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results."

"With just a single click you can move the results you like to the top or add a new site. You can also write notes attached to a particular site and remove results that you don't feel belong. These modifications will be shown to you every time you do the same search in the future."

You can post comments to yourself, but interestingly will be able to view comments posted by others.

PLEASE READ ON...