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January 27, 2006
Search research resurgence
Impressed by the "Internet singularity" [whatever that is], Microsoft has announced a research initiative called LiveLabs, which will provide more money for umm, search research.
There are some very lofty goals attached to this initiative, designed to create a "positive virtuous circle".
"The Internet operates in a manner fundamentally unlike anything that has ever preceded it. In particular, it promotes “democratization” of information, tools, and resources that combine to empower more people with increasing capabilities. As democratization progresses in multiple domains (e.g., content, commerce, community, code) the aggregate impact of the many small participants (i.e., individuals and small companies) can eventually surpass the impact of the larger participants (i.e., companies), changing the manner in which online entities cooperate, compete, and form a richer digital ecosystem." This, we remind you, is from Microsoft. The company that gave us "embrace, extend, extinguish". Some singularity. OK. We're cynical. It's our job.
Posted by cw at January 27, 2006 04:20 PM