On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 11:51 PM, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
<cimonavaro(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> I think this casts a new interesting perspective
on
> the decision by Microsoft to buy out
powerset.com.
>
> I will be watching with interest, how they will develop
> that product, and whether they intend to incorporate
> it more extensively into their other product offerings.
>
> I have to admit I was skeptical initially when I heard
>
powerset.com would be "gobbled up". But should it
> turn out that Microsoft were to really seriously put
> effort into
powerset.com, any relief Encyclopaedia
> Britannica may have gained from the reduction of
> competition for number two spot, may prove a little
> short lived. That is unless of course Microsoft/Powerset
> make some kind of deal with EB that they can use
> powersets semantic search engine on also EB
> product.
>
> Of course it is possible that MS have made the
> judgment that the whole sector is not good for
> them, but actually I would prefer to be hopeful
> that this means they would give more impetus
> to powerset now. I personally think powerset is
> currently the best interface for wikipedia, bar
> none.
>
> On the gripping hand, if developing powerset is
> not on the cards for Microsoft, perhaps now that
> they have decided to not hold onto encarta, they
> might be persuadable to sell powerset off, since
> holding on to it is not fending off a competitor to
> encarta. The question of course then would be,
> who would be willing to buy powerset off their
> hands?
>
David Goodman replied:
Britannica in its various incarnations and Encarta
were excellent and
useful reference works. Britannica remains useful. Encarta I think
could have remained useful also. I really regret that we had a role in
killing it. Why should we be pleased?
The commercial organizations need to compete. We do not. The more
encyclopedias the better.
I think the answer is that we should be pleased that we
became so much *more* useful. This is the _sentimentally_
sad, but logically *glorious* facet of competition as a
concept.
You won't find a world record holder in any sport that will
not admit to a sadness when somebody surpasses theirs,
and likely the fans of that particular sportsman will feel a
pang in sympathy. But ask the sportsman squarely if they
don't feel that their result being an inspiration for others
to excel and surpass that result is and was a source of
pride for them too, and I guarantee 99,9 % of record holders
will say they genuinely thought their record was there to be
broken, and as an inspiration for others to go faster, higher,
stronger.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen