24 August 2009 | Author: James Zigrino Head of R&D

Something went Bing! Could it be Wolfram Alpha?

We've highlighted the launch of new search engine Wolfram Alpha over the last few months; up until now however it's looked like an interesting but ultimately niche distraction from mainstream search. A model, perhaps, of what search might eventually become.

It looks like we weren't the only ones watching with interest; rumours are circulating on Techcrunch that Microsoft have spend the summer courting Wolfram to licence some of the data and technology and even that they really wanted to include it in the original launch of Bing in May.

In a lot of ways it's a partnership that would make a great deal of sense as Microsoft positions Bing not as a dumb search engine, but as a "decision engine" - for that to work, the kind of structured data that Wolfram offers will be crucial.

If so, it will give Microsoft a distinct edge over Google who have struggled to advance on their simple search model with Google Squared. If it turns out that web search is ultimately merely a stepping stone on to something a bit smarter - and it certainly looks like Microsoft are betting the shop that it is - then Google may have missed a trick.

Frustratingly Stephen Wolframs blog post on August 20 gives no hint if the rumours are true, although interestingly no one has denied it either at either side of the deal. However such a move would be a smart one - Googles own early days were financed by licensing its technology to the mainstream search portals of the day, such as Yahoo.

www.bing.com
www.wolframalpha.com

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