Microsoft and Its Struggles with the Language of Search
March 19, 2011
I struggle with the language used to describe the language of search. So if my interpretation of “Cognition with Semantic Technology to Microsoft’s Bing” is correct, it seems Microsoft has decided to supplement or even step away from Powerset. Microsoft paid about $100 million for this natural language processing and semantic system in 2008.
After a bit of sleuthing I learned of the cessation of the Powerset toolbar’s Wikipedia function.
My attempts to access the engine’s homepage pointed to Bing.com, which is not all that unusual after a big company gobbles a small one. According to the story in the somewhat erratic Search Engine Optimization GB write up, I learned:
The non-exclusive license agreement allows Microsoft to embed elements of the semantic technologies cognition is in any Microsoft application that would benefit from an “understanding” of the English language. First, it is used to the user experience in Google, to improve Microsoft’s online decision engine.
Is this old news or new news? We noted one deal between Cognition and Microsoft in our May 2010 story “Cognition and Bing.”
We are not sure if this is the same deal or the old deal recycled as a new deal. No wonder Microsoft struggles with the language of search. We struggle to understand the semantic technologies Microsoft employs in Bing.com and Fast Search.
Micheal Cory, March 19, 2011
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