Can Wikipedia and amazon.com take on Google?

Founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales revealed his plan on developing an open source 
search engine that will compete with Google's closed algorithm.  Amazon will 
join the effort.

The problem is that apparently Google "have hired all the geniuses" (according 
to Google) so Wikipedia is asking for volunteers to join the effort in order to 
create the "people-powered" search.

Obviously this created some controversy.  A poster on Google Webmaster Help 
Group announced that Google has a "secret algorithm" with "terrible ... search 
results" and that he will "stop using Google" for his "searches":

   he will stop using Google

Webmaster World has a 103 message thread on the subject that spans 4 pages (as 
of 06-Feb-2007).  Opinions ranging from:

   great idea, it's time to "knock googles block off"

to

   not possible as the real problem is not the search result but how
   fast it can be returned requiring "super computers" with
   "software written by 100s of phds"

   Founder of Wikipedia plans search engine to rival Google

One thing is for sure is that if you have a lot of content it's difficult to 
depend on an external search engine alone - you really need to provide your 
users with an instant search right on your site.