Web Biz

The Economist released an article entitled "Attack of the Eurogoogle" regarding the new search engine that is being developed by two Eurpoean governments in order to compete with US companies Yahoo! and Google.  The search engine is schedule to be released this year, and is being developed colloboratively between the German and France governments.  The main differentiation between what they are calling ‘Quaero’ and today’s search engines is the method in which the query is performed to retrieve the desired information.  Traditional search queries include keywords or terms that can be found in documents or links to the document.  Quaero is going to use image mining and voice recognition software in order to allow users to query for information by submitting images or voice audio to the search engine. According to the Mr. Chirac, the president of France,

“We must take up the global challenge of the American giants Yahoo! and Google”; “Culture is not merchandise and cannot be left to blind market forces”; “We must staunchly defend the world’s cultural diversity against the looming threat of uniformity”; “Our power is at stake.”

I am not sure if the governmental agencies will be able to continue to drive support for the current and future development of a project like this.  How long with the citzens of Germany and France continue to pay and support this service in light of market giants like Google and Yahoo, that are backed heavily by private and group investments in the marketplace.  Do you trust your government to deliver you all the information that you request in a search query?