That Barney Pell is one lucky (clever) guy -- $100MM+ from Microsoft for Powerset, or so Venturebeat reports.
I find it fascinating that Microsoft -- a group that has had considerable experience with their own search products -- would buy a company that has built its reputation on the potential for 'natural language' search.
Why? Because 'natural language' search is not 'natural' in the context of online search. And MSFT most certainly has reams of log data indicating that people do not approach search by constructing natural language queries.
As I posted way back in Feb 2007, this might have been an interesting acquisition if it were available 10 years ago, before Yahoo and then more importantly Google became our front door to the internet.
10 years ago, online search was still a new concept to most, and the cement was still wet for influencing user behavior. But I suspect now the masses are fairly fluent -- if only by trial and error -- in speaking the language of search.
Why would I search for "What is the capital of Egypt?" or "Who wrote Harry Potter?" when I can get the info I'm looking for with "Egypt Capital" and "Potter Author". The latter is far more efficient in both number of key strokes, as well as focus on the key terms. It rids us of low-context baggage like pronouns, prepositions, and even the notion of constructing an interrogative statement (which is implied in any query).
While 'natural language' might have some niche applications (kids products?) I share the skepticism Howard Roark feels for neo-classical and baroque elements in post-modern architecture: The form no longer serves the function.
Of course, what's a couple hundo' out of MSFT's war chest? That's stamp money, chumps! They probably bought Powerset as a hedge just in case the crazy thing every takes off. Surely they don't intend to retool Live with natural language?
Then again, MSFT does have a history of taking the figurative to literal extremes... :-)