[kbutler]

The problem with the Wolfram Alpha terms of service is that they forbid natural, common uses of the web site.

"The Wolfram|Alpha service may be used only by a human being using a conventional web browser to manually enter queries one at a time."

Think for a minute what that forbids. Generating links programmatically, yes. Tweeting links? Yes. Emailing a URL? yes. Bookmarks? Oh, yeah...

Enforceability of the ToS aside, I think the original author is correct: that phrase in the Terms of Use shows that Wolfram|Alpha doesn't "get" the way the web works. Or at least they give too much free reign to lawyers who don't get it.

[tptacek]

Tweeting a link seems like a good example of a "common sense use of the website" that could bring it to its knees if some queries take 30+ seconds to complete.

[perlgeek]

Caching exists.

[tptacek]

"But queries shouldn't ever take 30 seconds". Ok then.

[dasil003]

If WA lived up to its promise—which it doesn't, not by a long shot—then 30 seconds would definitely be an acceptable wait for the perfect answer. I don't see how it would bring anything to its knees? Why should the latency propagate? Just need a loading page, problem solved.

[StrawberryFrog]

The problem with the Wolfram Alpha terms of service is that they forbid natural, common uses of the web site.

Exactly. For instance, http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=does+wolfram+alpha+get+...

[abcd_f]

And the answer is Sometimes - http://i53.tinypic.com/2vkhrt2.gif

That's a good one, W|A :)

[limmeau]

I hope you typed in the URL manually.

[mc32]

>The problem with the Wolfram Alpha terms of service is that they forbid natural, common uses of the web site.

It seems that that only applies to general circumstance usage. That is, it appears, once can enter into arrangements with W|A to allow non-human usage of website.

To prove, just search for "calories in apples", for example in Bing or Google search.

[ugh]

I have to enter into an agreement with W|A if I want to bookmark a page?