Google is set to get some new competition in the Internet search business, and this time it isn’t from a well-known company such as Microsoft or Yahoo!. Instead, Jimmy Wales, founder of the popular online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, is turning his attention to online search and applying the same principles that made Wikipedia so successful. The search engine he is developing has the backing of Amazon and will be called Wikiasari. “Wiki” means quick in Hawaiian and “asari” means rummaging search in Japanese. The official launch of the new search engine is some time in the first quarter of 2007 and will be managed through the company Wikia Inc. Wales’ reason for developing an alternative to the big search engines such as Google is because he spotted problems with some searches that were being carried out. He noticed that the use of an algorithm and displaying results by rankings didn’t always return the links and information an individual was after. Wikiasari works differently, and much like Wikipedia, is community driven. He hopes to combine free software and thousands of people to help sort through the good and bad information out there, making searches more trustworthy and to the point. The search project has already garnered interested parties with Amazon, providing millions in funding as well as finance being received from Silicon Valley investors. Amazon is also prepared to support Wikiasari once it is up and running.