The launch of Powerset's showcase (which is more or less the search engine without the web crawl) aims to demonstrate the potential of this new approach to search. Presently, Powerset queries only Wikipedia and then uses data from Freebase to augment the results, with little need for ranking algorithms to sort the good results from the bad. Making it tricky to determine how much of an effect they will have on the search market as a whole.
Users can, however, witness the effectiveness of Powerset's ability to retrieve information quickly. For example, someone doing research on a subject can use Powerset to potentially remove several steps of the process before getting to the final information they require, particularly if the information needed is on a variety of different web pages. This is due to Powerset's ability to make some sense of the content included on Wikipedia pages, structuring it and the inserting it into results, rather than just picking out keywords in your query that match those of web pages.
Powerset is also indexing web pages far differently to many other search engines. Instead of recording content to match keyword queries, they are trying to create an understanding of the page's content in order to match it meaningfully to queries later - whether the page contains matching keywords or not
It seems that Powerset aren't in the position to index the entire web just yet due to the expense of the process - Powerset's method requires considerable time and computer power dedicated to a web page. According to TechCrunch, the company has so far raised $12.5 million (with close to $8 million in additional bridge loans from investors) but to index the entire web will a large amount of additional financing for Powerset. This could very well explain the reports that investment bank Allen & Co. are currently shopping the company to potential buyers, reports that broke just a day before the launch of Powerset's showcase.
There has been criticism from some that Powerset's goal of redefining the search process for millions of users is a touch on the "lofty" side to say the least. Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch argued that search engine users are too set in their ways to dramatically change how they peruse information. "If Powerset's going to change those habits, good luck. Getting inside the minds and whispering "type longer" isn't going to be fun."
Despite such criticism, a number of search aficionados have concurred that whether Powerset achieve their goal of redefining search or not, they're certainly trying to do something fairly special, and ruffling the feathers of the search engine elite along the way!
