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Sherlock 3 Steals from Watson


http://www.karelia.com/watson/watsonFAQ.html

Watson Product FAQ

Q. What is the relationship between Watson and the upcoming Sherlock 3?
A. When Watson — openly inspired by Sherlock for the concept of bypassing the Web browser — was first released in 2001, it was envisioned as Sherlock’s “companion” application, focusing on Web “services” rather than being a “search” tool like Sherlock.

The upcoming Sherlock 3, part of Apple’s upcoming 10.2 “Jaguar” release, has now changed its focus to Web services. Based on Steve Jobs’ demo and Apple’s Web site, it does bear a great resemblance to Watson. Almost its entire functionality (image search, news, stocks, movies, phone listings, eBay auctions, flight tracking, reference, and translation) is found in Watson’s tool set, and many individual tools seem to behave remarkably like their Watson counterpart.

Watson’s Movie Tool and Sherlock’s Movie Channel

Many users have contacted Karelia, congratulating us on Apple “buying out” Watson. However, Karelia Software was not involved in any aspect of Sherlock 3, other than serving as … shall we say … inspiration. While Apple recently recognized Watson as 2002’s “Most Innovative Mac OS X Product” — and we appreciate the recognition — the company didn’t hesitate to make use of Watson’s specific innovations for its next OS release, without any concessions to Karelia.

The fact that Apple has chosen to overlap Watson’s functionality and is bundling this as part of their operating system means that Watson –at least, the majority of its current tool set — is effectively shut out as a viable product on the Macintosh, once Mac OS X 10.2 gains widespread use.

We’ve all but given up on any compensation from Apple, so the purpose of “going public” with this answer is because we want to set the record straight.

In recognition of our loyal user base, Karelia will continue to support Watson indefinitely; Once Sherlock is released, we will explore avenues to bring Watson into the future — in one form or another.

Realize that until Sherlock 3 is actually released and you pay for the steep upgrade, Watson is still the best way to access these great services. Watson is not being discontinued and is still for sale!

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.