The latest news out of the center of global culture and doggie-do in the streets claimed the in-development Quaero search engine aims to challenge Google for search superiority.

“Quaero” means “to search” in Latin, the AP article said. French president Jacques Chirac said last week, “We must meet the global challenge of the American giants Google and Yahoo.”

While upsets can certainly happen, Google has proven a tough foe to overcome in the search arena. Yahoo, Microsoft, and others have tried, but Google’s relevance has kept it ahead of the pack. In the US, search companies battle for second place, not first, no matter how their PR departments choose to spin it otherwise.

The minds behind Quaero have bold ambitious plans but no real details. Their list of desired features looks, well, Googley:

Designers insist that Quaero will not just be a search engine but a set of tools for translating, identifying and indexing images, sound and text.

The technology would work with all platforms — computer desktops, mobile devices and even televisions — and be sold to television companies, filmmakers, post-production facilities and anyone who creates or uses audiovisual content, according to France’s electronics giant Thomson.
Competition does benefit the overall market. Those who grumble about Google’s seeming lack of focus in the wake of its release of software bundle Google Pack may welcome an effort that forces Google to keep an eye on the relevance of its search results.

Who knows? Maybe Quaero will be the next great thing in search technology. Someday they may even release an alpha version of it, too.

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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.