Microsoft ready to ditch Live Search?

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 3 Mar 2009 at 08:43

Microsoft is testing a new version of its online search service dubbed Kumo, the company has confirmed.

The search engine is being tested within the company's corporate network with all search queries automatically redirected from Live Search to Kumo.

"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," says Microsoft's head of research Satya Nadella in an internal memo to staff. "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's unclear whether Microsoft's underlying search technology has been overhauled, but early screen shots suggest the majority of the work has gone into reorganising search results by category. Searching for a music artist, for example, separates results by song, biography, lyric and image and videos with everything else grouped in a miscellaneous "web" category.

Microsoft's acquisition of natural language search company Powerset last July for a reported $100 million has also led to speculation that Kumo will incorporate this new technology.

The Redmond giant is struggling to catch up with runaway internet search leader Google, which is beginning to encroach on its core OS business with Android.