4 ms·

Why?

pg 18y ago
Powerset has many signs of being doomed. Natural language search, based on "commercialized" research, taking a long time to launch, talking a lot before doing it.
- KirinDave 18y ago
  I think it's sad that there are Powerset haters here, of all places. Especially from someone like you, Paul. I can deal with the company I work for being slammed on techcrunch, because that's what techcrunch is for. But to see the people on news.ycomb start jumping on that bandwagon makes me sad. This is supposed to be the place where startups are explored and taken seriously. Powerset is not a micro-social site with some added value like some of my previous projects. Making a new search engine is a massive undertaking. It took google several years, but no one seems to want to give any challengers a real chance.
  - ericb 18y ago
    Search could still be orders of magnitude better, and google seems worse and worse lately. Console yourself with the thought that if PowerSet fixes this problem, you'll see a lot of haters become fanboys. Bear in mind, though, that the pre-bluster has historically been correlated with failure, not success, so people are skeptical. I've read about techniques that will cure cancer so many times.
  - staunch 18y ago
    You can't compare yourself to Google for years without releasing something that actually compares to Google and then expect people to refrain from pointing it out.
  - aswanson 18y ago
    I hope you guys challenge and win. Search needs an upgrade these days.
- prakash 18y ago
  In general, this is probably the best time for companies that are talking to MSFT re: search about being bought out, due to the fact that: 1. MSFT has cash in the bank and the Yahoo acquisition didn't go thorough 2. They are even more desperate now to bolster anything & everything to do with search & monetization 3. The perceived value of search companies (Powerset, Cuill) is higher since there are very few search companies that can allegedly make a difference to begin with, and even fewer buyers Powerset is valued at 42 million (see venture beat article), if they are bought for 3x-5x that amount by msft and they can retain their independence they should probably go for it. If Powerset needs the same kind of computing resources, msft would be a better bet in supplying that. Msft did something similar with TellMe in terms of retaining their independence apparently (no idea how far that is true).

Why?

pg 18y ago

Powerset has many signs of being doomed. Natural language search, based on "commercialized" research, taking a long time to launch, talking a lot before doing it.

KirinDave 18y ago
I think it's sad that there are Powerset haters here, of all places. Especially from someone like you, Paul. I can deal with the company I work for being slammed on techcrunch, because that's what techcrunch is for. But to see the people on news.ycomb start jumping on that bandwagon makes me sad. This is supposed to be the place where startups are explored and taken seriously. Powerset is not a micro-social site with some added value like some of my previous projects. Making a new search engine is a massive undertaking. It took google several years, but no one seems to want to give any challengers a real chance.
- ericb 18y ago
  Search could still be orders of magnitude better, and google seems worse and worse lately. Console yourself with the thought that if PowerSet fixes this problem, you'll see a lot of haters become fanboys. Bear in mind, though, that the pre-bluster has historically been correlated with failure, not success, so people are skeptical. I've read about techniques that will cure cancer so many times.
- staunch 18y ago
  You can't compare yourself to Google for years without releasing something that actually compares to Google and then expect people to refrain from pointing it out.
- aswanson 18y ago
  I hope you guys challenge and win. Search needs an upgrade these days.
prakash 18y ago
In general, this is probably the best time for companies that are talking to MSFT re: search about being bought out, due to the fact that: 1. MSFT has cash in the bank and the Yahoo acquisition didn't go thorough 2. They are even more desperate now to bolster anything & everything to do with search & monetization 3. The perceived value of search companies (Powerset, Cuill) is higher since there are very few search companies that can allegedly make a difference to begin with, and even fewer buyers Powerset is valued at 42 million (see venture beat article), if they are bought for 3x-5x that amount by msft and they can retain their independence they should probably go for it. If Powerset needs the same kind of computing resources, msft would be a better bet in supplying that. Msft did something similar with TellMe in terms of retaining their independence apparently (no idea how far that is true).