Microsoft Powerset Could Unseat Google
July 8, 2008
You may find this essay stimulating. I did. Rebecca Sato’s essay “Microsoft Acquires Powerset”: Why a Semantic Web Will Be Smarter, Faster & All-Around Better” is remarkable. Please, navigate to The Daily Galaxy and get the inside scoop on the future of the Web. For example, Ms. Sato writes:
Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset signals a the building of a future when the entire world will likely have access to virtual “software agents” who will “roam” across the Web, making our travel arrangements, doctor’s appointments and basically taking care of all the day-to-day hassles for humankind. It’s a great vision, but it will never be achieved with today’s current Internet.
My take on Ms. Sato’s thesis is that today, users must struggle with text documents that require the user to figure out what’s important. The future is smarter software, richer indexing, and more dimensionality for the information. Ms. Sato acknowledges that that Powerset-type functions are in their early stages. I agree.
Let me offer two observations;
- Smart software can be resource intensive. As a result, semantic systems may have to start small and grow as the computing resources become available. To me, this means that semantic systems may be confined to modest roles, often as utilities or special purpose operations. If this happens, semantic systems may take years to deliver on their potential.
- Semantic technology may find itself playing catch up to search systems that use smart shortcuts. For example, user tagging may provide acceptable payoffs without the complexity and cost of semantic systems. If this happens, the search revolution may be people power, not smart software.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know.
Stephen Arnold, July 8, 2008
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Semantic technology will can also utilize user tagging information as a short cut. The key to the rise of semantic web will be the development of an ecosystem of semantic utilities that act as service provider that will reduce the cost of computing for the semantic web.