Powerset hampered by limited resources? Oh please
I don’t mean to appear cold-hearted. I have a heart. Really. But news of a shakeup at Powerset given release delays doesn’t come as a surprise at all.
What is surprising is to read that Powerset has “been hampered by limited resources.” Oh puhleease. Since when has $12.5M (minimum) in funding qualified as having limited resources?
Delays in getting hold of the Xerox NLP API caused fundamental problems? I used that API (ten years ago, admittedly) and, sorry to say, it’s not the key to unlocking the natural language understanding puzzle. But it was widely trumpeted as the key to Powerset knocking off Google. The mysterious all-powerful NLP API from the mysterious all-fumbling Xerox PARC finally lands in the hands of a commercial company poised to Make Good! Powerset had snatched the NLP crown jewels out from under Google’s nose!
It wouldn’t surprise me if PARC were glad to get rid of the rusty old thing. “Psssst, buddy. You over there… wanna buy an antique NLP API owned by former royalty? S’good fer what ails ya.”
OK, I’m being a bit sarcastic and silly. I guess I just have limited patience for these projects and especially for the breathless hype that surrounds them.
I’ve often wondered about Powerset (and Metaweb) hitting the wall. Lots of hype, pressure, and funding. Lots of people. High burn rate. And revenue coming from…… where exactly? And that’s not to mention the blow to our confidence that Powerset were really onto something deep when they let a genius programmer drink and get away from his handlers at a dotcom-style bash.
I’d say the real reason Powerset are “hampered” is the fact that they’re trying to solve something that’s practically impossible.
If you look at it that way, then I suppose having only $12.5M to achieve the impossible really is a case of having limited resources.
Stay tuned. There’s a long, nasty and heartless blog posting locked up inside me about people and companies that chase words like “understanding”, “meaning” and “intelligence”.
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