Microsoft prepares stealth search service

Tue Mar 3 2009, 18:09 PM UTC

Microsoft is internally testing a revamped version of its Live.com search portal, codenamed Kumo. The trial comes ahead of an anticipated launch this year as Microsoft tries to up its online search presence against rivals Google and Yahoo!.

A leaked company-wide email sent by the SVP of R&D for Microsoft's online services, Satya Nadella, urges Microsoft staff to test the new programme and provide feedback. All internal traffic from Live.com will be redirected to Kumo during the trial.

The test hints that Microsoft will again rebrand its search portal, which started life as MSN Search before being renamed to Windows Live Search – accessible at Live.com. The trial also promises to bring a number of new tools and enhanced search functions, designed to help users save time on web searches.

Screen shots of Kumo.com show a left column that intelligently breaks down a search term into sub-sections. For example, users searching for a famous musician can click a number of headings such as images, songs, lyrics, biography, and videos. Similarly, searching for a brand of car will provide different sub-headings such as parts, accessories, sales and images. Results will be ordered in the main search screen starting with the top web links, before listing the sub-divided results.

Other new features include a "hover preview" function, while Kumo's left-hand panel will also display related search terms and provide session history details that users can easily use to click back into previous articles. This history list can be manually managed or cleared.

"In spite of the progress made by search engines, 40% of queries go unanswered; half of queries are about searchers returning to previous tasks; and 46% of search sessions are longer than 20 minutes," Nadella says.

"These and many other learnings suggest that customers often don't find what they need from search today. We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks."

It is not yet clear how far the search changes will be based around developments made byPowerset – the semantic search firm Microsoft bought for an estimated USD100m in June 2008. The firm, which was set up to enhance searches made on Wikipedia, uses software that focuses on linguistics to try to decipher meaning from search phrases and.

Rumours that Microsoft was due to rebrand Windows Live Search first emerged in November, when it came to light that Microsoft had bought the Kumo.com domain. Kumo means "cloud" or "spider" in Japanese. Reports claimed all search would be turned over to Kumo, with Live.com becoming a social homepage for users to access email, calendar and photo services.

By focusing on improving its search services, Microsoft will aim to win ground back from its bigger rivals. According to comScore's January statistics, Google held a 63% share of the US search market, followed by Yahoo! which holds a 21% of the market. Microsoft came in third place with just 8% of searches.

As well as leading the field in search, Google is also threatening Microsoft on a number of different fronts. Google's online services offer free email and word processing tools that compete with established Microsoft software such as Outlook and Word. Meanwhile, analysts predict Google's mobile operating system, Android, will be available on netbooks in the future, challenging Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft plans to optimise Windows 7 for use with these small, lightweight laptops.

Microsoft's decision to revamp its search portal comes as the software giant speaks out in favour of a search deal with Yahoo!. Delivering a strategic update to financial analysts in New York last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he would "like to figure out how to pool Microsoft and Yahoo!", striking a deal that will "create more competition".

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