

Why Microsoft will fail to do anything significant with Powerset - Aleran
http://www.techcrunchit.com/2008/07/18/next-years-headline-microsoft-fails-to-do-anything-significant-with-powerset/

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jm4
I am thoroughly convinced Microsoft will botch up this acquisition, but that's
only because it's usually a safe bet that Microsoft will botch up anything
internet related. They just don't get it.

This article is based largely on the assumption that priority number one will
be to port everything to Windows and I think this is an absurd assumption to
make.

Are we to believe that Microsoft is willing to risk throwing away $100M+ in
order to migrate this thing to Windows?

Don't forget that Microsoft ran Hotmail on Unix for years. I imagine by the
time they got around to porting it to Windows they were about ready for an
upgrade anyway. (Plus, Windows was finally getting to the point where a
project like that could even be considered.)

My guess is the meat of this deal was about bringing in some new IP and some
bright engineers- not about running some search engine that almost no one has
heard of. In that case, the platform it runs on is largely irrelevant.

~~~
Aleran
The difference between Hotmail and Powerset is Microsoft has said that they
will have some sort of integration with Live search by the end of the year.

[http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/02/interview-with-
barney-p...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/02/interview-with-barney-pell-
and-ramez-naam-about-microsoft%E2%80%99s-powerset-acquisition-integration-to-
begin-this-year/)

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about but having half of Live search
running off Windows search and the remaining part being handled by Powerset's
unix boxes sounds silly. Or at least I will think I am seeing pigs fly if it
every happens.

~~~
jm4
I did see that Microsoft had said they will have some sort of integration by
the end of the year, but that doesn't necessarily imply that they will need to
port the Unix stuff to Windows. Maybe a mix of Live Search on Windows and
Powerset on Unix sounds silly to some, but you could also make the argument
that dumping a bunch of time and money into porting a working application
after a $100M acquisition is silly.

The article you linked to mentions that only 5% of searches contain natural
language elements. This integration they talk about could be as simple as
identifying these searches and passing them off to the Powerset stuff in the
background.

I don't doubt that Microsoft will eventually want to port everything to
Windows, but I think it's a false assumption that this is going to be a top
priority. They've made repeated statements about their desire to see this put
to use quickly and speculation about a lengthy and complicated port seems to
directly contradict that.

