Finding Search Again!

I recently needed to add full-text search to an existing application, and through the process gained a new appreciation for the power of this ubiquitous category of software.  Thanks to Google, Bing, Yahoo and many other consumer-focused search engines we have learned to take the ability to find what we seek for granted.

In the enterprise similar capabilities are available in the form of SharePoint Search, Autonomy, Recommind, Google and the like. These so-called "enterprise search" platforms, which purport to address every find-ability need, can require massive resources and a small priesthood of technical attendants.

My project's needs were fairly modest - a search engine with a programming interface (API) that could be used to integrate with an existing document management system.  What I found was a product I had known 15 years ago that was still humming along - dtSearch; a product that has carved out a niche as an industrial-strength full-text search engine that can be built in to other products - sort of the "Intel Inside" of search.

dtSearch is a scrappy product.  The online documentation looks like it's been written by and for developers.  The three individuals I exchanged emails with over the course of several weeks had deep product knowledge and conveyed a true belief in their product - refreshing in these times when so much technology is sold based on sizzle rather than craft.  Working with dtSearch reminded me of the early days when good software might still have a few rough edges, and when technical passion meant more than marketing polish and "vision".

The project complete, I began to think how odd it is that I rarely think about full-text search as an integral part of the applications I build. And how unfortunate that when I do think of search, the range of products I consider is so limited.  This project rekindled in me the desire to have at my disposal an array of useful and well crafted tools so that I can in turn design and build just the right solution for the requirements at hand.  Across a broad spectrum of technology categories the BIG players have done too good of a job at defining what products are considered. Using dtSearch reminded me that well-made narrowly-targeted software is often the best way to address a given requirement. It also expanded my concept of what application-specific full-text search could be.