Whether this is true or just plain rumor, we’ll let you decide. Venture Beat is reporting a scoop on a possible Microsoft acquisition deal of semantic search engine Powerset. Microsoft ‘s offer? – a whooping $100 million.
Actually, we wouldn’t be surprise if Microsoft will indeed buy Powerset since we all know that it has been struggling so hard in the web search department, always lagging behind Google and Yahoo.
No matter how much Microsoft Live Search tries to improve on their search engine they couldn’t seem to get a head on. It was even desperate enough to come up with a pretty ridiculous idea of rewarding search engine users for using their product search engine. Incidentally, since it was launched, we haven’t heard anything about it till then.
And why would Powerset be a good purchase for Microsoft? For one it is a pretty powerful and innovative approach to search. In fact it was even touted as a Google killer. But the question is how its search technology can help or be integrated with Microsoft’s own search technology.
But of course, acquiring Powerset is not the be-all and and-all of Microsoft’s dilemma when it comes to its Live Search engine. Combining with Yahoo is still perhaps the most viable option. But with Yahoo not too keen on accepting Microsoft’s offer, Microsoft might as well look for other options to aid its weakening search product.
Whether the acquisition deal is true or not, is yet to be seen as both parties refused to comment on the matter. But I guess with rumors such as this one, when nobody from those involved refused to comment, chances are the rumor is not really a rumor but a fact waiting to happen.
