Wolfram Alpha Challenges Google?

Wolfram Alpha, the next wave in Internet search with a couple of branding challenges, is going live on the 18th May. Just 5 days to go. It feels like a countdown to something, well, potentially huge. Wolfram Alpha could be the next Google. It's a next generation search engine that answers your question by scanning the Web, then utilizes the most advanced computational models to turn Web based data into newly computed answers to your original search query. If that sounds like techno mumbo jumbo let me try and explain it more simply.

Wolfram Alpha will attempt to give you real answers to real questions - not just a list of relevant links. So, if you type in 'how long does it take to fly from New York to London' you will get a real answer such as 7 hours, not just a bunch of relevant links a la Google.

The huge question is is Wolfram Alpha competitor to Google or partner? Given that Google is desperately, behind the scenes, trying to come up with a similarish service - they see them as competitor first. For us users they should be hugely complimentary Wolfram Alpha gives you direct answers to your questions, Google gives you links. But guess who Google's gonna try and buy damned soon??