Microsoft quiet on Wolfram Alpha deal

Microsoft has described as "just speculation" reports that a deal has been struck which could see its Bing search tool using data from computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha in order to answer certain user queries.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft said that the firm had no comment to make, despite a TechCrunch report which cited "sources close to Wolfram" announcing the deal.

Wolfram Alpha is not in direct competition with Bing, or Microsoft's main rival Google, in the search space, as instead of returning links to web pages that may answer a query, it aims to understand the question and compute the answer itself.

However, after an initial flurry of excitement and positive publicity on its launch, Wolfram Alpha has been plagued by poor reviews and has seen its star wane somewhat.

The hype surrounding Bing, meanwhile, has grown, culminating in Microsoft's 10-year deal with Yahoo announced last month to supply the ailing web giant with Bing technology for any searches made via Yahoo's sites.