Windows 7 Key Confirmed Microsoft buys Powerset n

The rumors accumulating over the past few months had been accurate: Microsoft has purchased natural-language search vendor Powerset for an undisclosed amount.Microsoft announced the offer on July one. Microsoft is planning to make use of Powerset;s folks and technology to “take Search to the next level by adding understanding of the Internet and meaning behind the words in searches and webpages,Microsoft Office Pro 2010,” according to a post on the Live Search blog.A great deal more from that posting by Satya Nadella,Windows 7 Key, Senior Vice President of Lookup,Microsoft Office Standard 2010, Portal and Advertising:“Powerset will join our core Lookup Relevance team, remaining intact in San Francisco. Powerset brings with it natural language technology that nicely complements other normal language processing technologies we have in Microsoft Research.”Some have taken to referring to Microsoft;s purchase of Powerset as a piece of Microsoft;s “Plan B” following the breakdown in acquisition talks between Microsoft and Yahoo.(I noticed Richard Sprague,Windows 7 sale, Senior Director of Marketing in the Microsoft Research Incubation team,Buy Office 2007, hint via a blog post last week that his team had had some interesting interactions with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates just before Gates retired. Given Sprague;s areas of focus, perhaps he was referring to Powerset.)What do you think: Is the Powerset acquisition a good first move for Microsoft after the dissolution of the Yahoo offer?