Project Quaero

Google's success is attracting new competitors: the Europeans want to make a Google of their own called Quaero and the Japanese want to make a Google of their own, which has got no name yet.
Until now the more competitors like Yahoo and MSN hated Google the more Google succeeded and I estimate the same will happen with these new rivals.
Why?
- Because you can not beat Google on its own game field. You can not be faster or more accurate on the macro- content level in which Google is the best.
Conclusion:
Project Quaero and the Japanese new search engines will succeed only if they will develop a new MICRO-CONTENT search engine. I hope they will use the knowledge gathered in this area by QTSaver team members.

Here are some details I collected about Project Quaero

http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2005/09/01/frenchfunded_quaero_to_tackle_google_yahoo/index.php Chirac's plans to provide forgivable loans to a Franco-German "multimedia search engine for the internet" being developed by French group Thomson and by Deutsche Telekom. The program has been dubbed "Project Quaero" (Latin for "to seek").
Project Quaero does not yet have a formal budget, but will be financed by the companies involved and European governments. Some of that money will come from the 2 billion euro Agency for Industrial Innovation officially announced by Chirac during his speech.
Serge Travert, who is leading the project for Thomson, admitted that it was developed in part to counter U.S. dominance of the internet. Project Quaero does not yet have a formal budget, but will be financed by the companies involved and European governments.Some of that money will come from the 2 billion euro Agency for Industrial Innovation officially announced by Chirac during his speech.
http://business2.blogs.com/business2blog/2005/09/chirac_rallies_.html
business2blog: Chirac Rallies France to Defeat Google
No, this one's not from the Onion. Jacque Chirac actually announced a project to create a European search engine called Project Quaero.
Maybe somebody should tell Chirac that Google already searches in French.I guess no VCs wanted to back Project Quaero.Instead of showing results by PageRank, I here it will come up with something new called FrancRank (results are based on how French they are, as determined by a committee of French philosophy professors, deconstructionists, and bistro waiters).
http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/4648/194
EUROPA - IDABC - Pan-European library information service launched
The governments of France and Germany decided in April 2005 to support the development of a European search engine to be known as Quaero widely seen as a potential competitor to Google.Quaero from the Latin word meaning to seek would allow users to search for text, image, video and audio content, and would also be meant to provide access to European digital libraries.Currently being steered by Franco-German working group on economic cooperation the Quaero project involves a number of public and private organisations such as LIMSI-CNRS, the University of Karlsruhe, MIG-INRA, RWTH Aachen, Berlin Technologies, Jouve, INRIA, Exalead, INA, Thomson, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. The new French Agency for Industrial Innovation, launched by President Jacques Chirac on 30 August 2005, is also expected to work on the project."We're engaged in a global competition for technological supremacy, Mr Chirac said. France, in Europe, it's our power that's at stake.
http://p2pnet.net/story/6107
Work is to soon start on a European search engine called Quaero.
The Telegraph has Thomson’s Serge Travert saying the new search engine was developed "in part" to combat the dominance of US companies in the internet arena.
But Quaero wouldn’t be built from scratch.Rather, it will be developed from "science and technology that already exists in France and Germany".
http://globalsearchengines.blogspot.com/2005/09/chirac-seeks-search-engine-supremacy.htmlo I guess Mr. Chirac doesn't like the idea that two American companies wield such influence not only in France and Europe but around the globe. His response is to help fund a new European search engine Project Quaero, but I wonder if it's too little, too late.
http://timworstall.typepad.com/timworstall/2005/08/project_quaero.html
Tim Worstall: Project Quaero
Another mind-numbingly stupid boondoggle from Jacques Chirac. Project Quaero, a truly European search engine.Funded by "forgiveable loans" and developed by those two startlingly fleet of foot and entrepreneurial companies, Thomson and Deutsche Telecom.
18 January 2006 - update
http://www.pandia.com/sew/149-the-multimedia-search-engine-quaero-europe%E2%80%99s-answer-to-google.html
Jean-Luc Mollet at Thompson, a project leader of the Quaero project...has not been sleeping on the job. A presentation of Quaero will be held at the Agance de l’innovation industrielle (AII) in January.