<s>
Quaero	B-Application
(	O
Latin	O
for	O
I	O
seek	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
European	O
research	O
and	O
development	O
program	O
with	O
the	O
goal	O
of	O
developing	O
multimedia	O
and	O
multilingual	O
indexing	O
and	O
management	O
tools	O
for	O
professional	O
and	O
general	O
public	O
applications	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
search	O
engines	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
companies	O
involved	O
in	O
the	O
consortium	O
were	O
France	O
Télécom	O
,	O
Exalead	B-Application
,	O
,	O
Jouve	O
,	O
,	O
Vecsys	O
,	O
Vocapia	O
Research	O
,	O
LTU	O
Technologies	O
,	O
and	O
Synapse	O
Développement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quaero	B-Application
was	O
announced	O
by	O
Jacques	O
Chirac	O
and	O
Gerhard	O
Schröder	O
during	O
the	O
French-German	O
ministerial	O
conference	O
in	O
April	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quaero	B-Application
was	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
programs	O
selected	O
by	O
the	O
AII	O
in	O
April	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quaero	B-Application
received	O
the	O
approval	O
of	O
the	O
European	O
Commission	O
in	O
March	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quaero	B-Application
was	O
often	O
described	O
as	O
a	O
European	O
competitor	O
to	O
Google	B-Application
as	O
well	O
as	O
to	O
other	O
commercial	O
search	O
engines	O
such	O
as	O
Yahoo	B-Application
,	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
Bing	B-Application
and	O
Ask.com	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quaero	B-Application
was	O
not	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
text-based	O
search	O
engine	O
but	O
was	O
mainly	O
meant	O
for	O
multimedia	O
search	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
an	O
article	O
in	O
The	O
Economist	O
,	O
Quaero	B-Application
would	O
have	O
allowed	O
users	O
to	O
search	O
using	O
a	O
"	O
query	O
image	O
"	O
,	O
not	O
just	O
a	O
group	O
of	O
keywords	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
French	O
satirical	O
newspaper	O
Le	O
Canard	O
enchaîné	O
pointed	O
out	O
that	O
the	O
funding	O
behind	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
dwarfed	O
by	O
both	O
Microsoft	O
and	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
issues	O
were	O
that	O
:	O
by	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
Quaero	B-Application
's	O
launch	O
,	O
the	O
search	O
engine	O
market	O
would	O
already	O
have	O
been	O
generations	O
ahead	O
of	O
Quaero	B-Application
in	O
media	O
and	O
device	O
capabilities	O
;	O
some	O
argue	O
that	O
Chirac	O
was	O
more	O
interested	O
in	O
defending	O
French	O
pride	O
than	O
global	O
advancement	O
of	O
the	O
Internet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Writing	O
in	O
IEEE	O
Spectrum	O
,	O
Nick	O
Tredennick	O
commented	O
that	O
"	O
Going	O
head-to-head	O
with	O
Google	B-Application
with	O
a	O
project	O
involving	O
well-funded	O
,	O
energetic	O
entrepreneurs	O
would	O
be	O
foolish	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
print	O
edition	O
of	O
The	O
Economist	O
,	O
January	O
6	O
,	O
2007	O
(	O
pp.5	O
)	O
,	O
Quaero	B-Application
"	O
was	O
reportedly	O
scrapped	O
"	O
since	O
the	O
German	O
partners	O
"	O
grumbled	O
about	O
the	O
cost	O
and	O
have	O
indicated	O
they	O
will	O
produce	O
their	O
own	O
,	O
scaled-down	O
search	O
engine	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
December	O
18	O
,	O
2006	O
,	O
,	O
a	O
state	O
secretary	O
within	O
the	O
Ministry	O
for	O
Economics	O
and	O
Labour	O
,	O
announced	O
during	O
the	O
IT-summit	O
in	O
Potsdam	O
that	O
a	O
German	O
consortium	O
had	O
put	O
together	O
a	O
semantic	O
search	O
project	O
called	O
that	O
would	O
be	O
distinct	O
from	O
Quaero	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
German	O
engineers	O
also	O
balked	O
at	O
what	O
they	O
thought	O
was	O
becoming	O
too	O
much	O
of	O
an	O
anti-Google	O
project	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
a	O
project	O
driven	O
by	O
its	O
own	O
ideals	O
.	O
</s>
