Yesterday, within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the Russian operator Rostelecom launched the long-awaited state search engine Sputnik. The portal is currently in beta testing and has an impressive number of bugs that have yet to be fixed in the near future. Nevertheless, having studied Sputnik yesterday, far and wide, I did not understand its true purpose.
Let's start with the start page. To many, it will remind the Yandex home screen: a news block at the top, weather, a TV program, links to basic services. In addition, the search engine periodically pleases its visitors with colorful views of various objects in Russia, although so far their number does not exceed 10. Apparently, there were not enough photographers for more.
But this is only the beginning. In the very first hour after its launch, Sputnik fell, apparently following the recent example of the Proton-M rocket. The search engine was not ready for such a load, but the engineers managed to adjust its work within an hour.
True, not everywhere. As it turned out later, Sputnik was available only to users from Russia. Even the Crimean users, who are actually located on the territory of our country, could not access the search engine. At the same time, Rostelecom said that in the Crimea, Sputnik was operating normally.
Filter all
The first thing that catches the eye is the search algorithm "Sputnik". You cannot search for information in this search engine without prior filtering - a choice of light, moderate and rigorous filtering is provided. However, the first two levels are almost no different from each other.
But here it was not without incidents. Many users began to notice that the search engine really does not issue pornography or other obscene materials on standard queries. But if you type quite innocuous phrases in the search bar ... well, see for yourself.
What kind of filtering is this? Yes, the search results of Sputnik are really different from Yandex or Google: here you will not find a link to a free movie download or a site promoting fascism. Nevertheless, it becomes obvious that if you protect visitors from malicious content and it is possible, it takes much longer.
Maps in “Sputnik” are quite convenient and colorful, but not always accurate - they often make mistakes not only with any address, but even with the location of the user. Distressed lack of hiking trails and public transport.
Special attention is given to the section “My Home”, where you can find all the nearest municipal organizations, including clinics, military registration and enlistment offices, and so on. Very comfortably.
Not without ludicrous bugs - the search engine lived on some of its calendar and believed that May 24 is Friday.
So who needs such a search engine? First of all schools. Suppose that at this stage “Sputnik” is not able to fully protect children from obscene content, this task should be solved in the future. Another question - due to the limitation of search results, the search process itself is complicated several times.
The opportunity to search for drugs seemed quite useful to me - this service is useful not only for older people, but even for you and me. Of course, the presence of any medicine can be found on the pharmacy website, but working with aggregated data is much more convenient.
Would I have planted my child for Sputnik? I think no. Many content filters can be customized in the same google. Moreover, I will know that he will definitely find what he needs, and no one, except me, will decide what he should watch and what doesn’t.
As for you and me, Sputnik is unlikely to be recognized by young people. Do not forget the simple principle "the more you prohibit, the more you want to try it." Separate services can be used, but making the portal the starting page ... is unlikely.
According to the press service of Rostelecom, the search engine team is going to start working on the Satellite applications for iOS and Android. At the same time, there is no mobile version of the portal yet (although is it necessary?).
By the way, according to the information received in the source code of Sputnik, in the near future, such services as Afisha, Work and Translator will appear on the portal. Since the state cannot privatize Yandex, it decided to create its own. Well, let's see if Sputnik will take off after exiting the beta test.
The article is based on materials .
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