Microsoft To Buy Online Search Company Powerset

<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/01/microsoft_buys_powerset">The Register</a>, <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/02/interview-with-barney-pell-and-ramez-naam-about-microsoft%e2%80%99s-powerset-acquisition-integration-to-begin-this-year">TechCrunch</a>

Jim Manico, OWASP Global Board Member

July 2, 2008

1 Min Read

Online searches could take on greater meaning with Microsoft's planned acquisition of Powerset, whose natural language-based technologies strive to understand the meaning and intent behind keywords used for indexing and searching."Problems exist because search engines today primarily match words in a search to words on a webpage," blogged Microsoft SVP Satya Nadella, using "cancer" as an example of a search for either a disease or a horoscope. "We can solve these problems by working to understand the intent behind each search and the concepts and meaning embedded in a webpage."

While rumored to be spending around $100 million, Microsoft has not disclosed how much it will pay for Powerset, a San Francisco-based startup whose semantic search engine designed for Wikipedia debuted last month. The company will become part of Microsoft's Search Relevance team.The Register, TechCrunch

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About the Author(s)

Jim Manico

OWASP Global Board Member

Jim Manico is a Global Board Member for the OWASP foundation where he helps drive the strategic vision for the organization. OWASP's mission is to make software security visible, so that individuals and organizations worldwide can make informed decisions about true software security risks. OWASP's AppSecUSA<https://2015.appsecusa.org/c/> conferences represent the nonprofit's largest outreach efforts to advance its mission of spreading security knowledge, for more information and to register, see here<https://2015.appsecusa.org/c/?page_id=534>. Jim is also the founder of Manicode Security where he trains software developers on secure coding and security engineering. He has a 18 year history building software as a developer and architect. Jim is a frequent speaker on secure software practices and is a member of the JavaOne rockstar speaker community. He is the author of Iron-Clad Java: Building Secure Web Applications<http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Clad-Java-Building-Secure-Applications/dp/0071835881> from McGraw-Hill and founder of Brakeman Pro. Investor/Advisor for Signal Sciences.

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