• Read Write Web, Thursday, July 3, 2008 11:15 AM

What is Microsoft thinking with its purchase of Powerset? Read Write Web's Alex Iskold thinks the software giant plans to mimic Powerset's Wikipedia solution by incorporating its technology into Internet Explorer. This might be a powerful idea if Powerset's actual technology were better, Iskold says.

Indeed, most reviews of the semantic search engine have been lukewarm at best, making the $100 million price tag somewhat surprising. But Iskold says that Powerset's technology also has tremendous potential. It doesn't try to search the Web as a whole; rather, it attempts to understand content on the page. This could be very useful for enhancing site-specific search, for example.

However, "if Microsoft bought Powerset with the goal to incorporate it into Live Search, then it's likely to be another acquisition to make little impact on the bottom line," Iskold says. In its announcement, Microsoft stated that the number one reason for acquiring Powerset is talent, but Iskold thinks the software giant plans to deploy Powerset on Internet Explorer. Imagine a semantic overlay on every Web page that provides added contextual information. Iskold thinks this could be a game changer, as it would likely keep searchers away from Google.

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