Microsoft is certainly getting around the block these days, courting numerous leaders in search. First it was its lingering saga with Yahoo!; now the software giant is reportedly pursuing rising leader in semantic search, Powerset.Although still unconfirmed, the rumour mill has been hard at work theorising and dissecting the possible acquisition. Leading the gossip is the suspected purchase price - a whopping $100 million. If true, this alone indicates that Powerset, with its new angle on search, is being deemed very valuable indeed and could mark the beginning of a new online chapter.
For those of us who remember an internet age before Google ran the roost, there were many other search engines out there. One of these, Ask Jeeves, attempted to do exactly what Powerset seems intent on perfecting today. Ask Jeeves, now Ask.com, branded itself on being the search engine that spoke and understood English. It allowed you to type in queries such as "Who invented the paper clip?" instead of a string of keywords for the same query, like "paper clip inventor" .
At the moment, Powerset does not crawl the internet looking for the answers to the questions typed into its search; it only looks at Wikipedia entries, a strategy that has already garnered the confidence of the people who regularly use the internet for research and don't seem to mind that information located there might not always be 100% accurate.
Despite its possible inaccuracies, however, it is clear that Wikipedia has become a leader in information and the layout works for users across the globe.
Powerset's searches are not entirely accurate either. A search of "Who is the British prime minister?" doesn't return Gordon Brown until the fourth page of results, whilst Margaret Thatcher is returned at the top. Since we already know the answer, it is possible to tweak the question to try to achieve more accurate results - adding the word "current" to the search term boosts Gordon Brown to the third result, but Maggie does still keep her place at number one.
This does beg the question "What else will Powerset get wrong?" - a quick search returns nondeterministic algorithms, Boolean algebra and carnivorous plants amongst the top answers.
Microsoft's purchase of Powerset is by no means certain. Although rumours currently abound that the deal has already been struck, both Microsoft and Powerset are refusing to comment. Some sections of the media are even suggesting that Microsoft may return to Yahoo! with a new bid for their search engine.
Whether Microsoft is set to make an acquisition - or whether they're planning on making more than one - is simply unknown. Currently, Powerset has no way of predicting the future so, until we get official word from Microsoft HQ, it looks like we'll just have to sit and wait.
