It's official: Microsoft's acquiring Powerset. Powerset's semantic search technology had many interesting potential applications besides websearch such as enterprise search, vertical search, even ad targeting & mobile search (as listed by Microsoft's Don Dodge here) but it was seriously handicapped by the incredibly high indexing costs (up to 100x compared to other technologies). Combining Powerset's technology with Microsoft's abundant resources should unleash all its potential and enable Powerset to demonstrate what it can really do on a shorter timeline. Microsoft also announced that it plans to integrate Powerset's technology into its Live Search.
Plenty of other interesting perspectives on the deal can be found on Forbes, GigaOm, TechCrunch and Venturebeat. Congratulations to Barney and the rest of the Powerset team !
