Microsoft trying to catch up with Google through Powerset

It must have been somewhat embarassing for the behemoth that is Microsoft to get turned down twice by Yahoo in the whole search engine debacle. Even though the results were mixed for Yahoo (they made more money than they would have done if they had signed with Microsoft but are in danger of being sued by their shareholders and execs are migrating away from the company), Microsoft now has to find a new way to update its Internet searching capabilities, and hopes it has done so through a new deal struck with Powerset.

Now Powerset is developing a whole new way to search the web using semantic web technology. Well, you still type in words and it gives you results, however the search engine looks for the words in their logical context, thus providing more accurate results in relation to what the user wants to find. According to Businessweek, this type of search is more useful to users looking for more detailed results in categories where there are many websites with the same keywords, and in that sense perform better than Google. The word is that this new technology has impressed Microsoft enough to offer $100 million for it, a fraction of what they were prepared to pay Yahoo and got turned down.

So this new technology, albeit very complex and costly to develop, could be just the ticket for Microsoft to catch up in the Internet search department which Google dominates at the moment. They have enough money left over from the deal that didn't go through. Lets see if they make it back to the top...