November 24, 2008 by Eddy Philipe
According to various online sources, Live Search’s days are numbered. The rumour is that software giant Microsoft has decided that Live Search needs a new persona and plans to rebrand the search engine next year, the rebrand will include a new name. For the time being at least, that name would appear to be, Kumo, after Microsoft bought the domain Kumo.com and began using internal traffic to test the new site.
Whilst the name itself may change in the intervening months, this is proof positive that Microsoft intends to whole-heartedly throw itself into revamping its search engine. Some are counting this as bad news for Yahoo, taking it as a sign that Microsoft will prefer to build up its own search capability, rather than simply buy up or strike a deal with Yahoo. Another ominous sign for Yahoo is the poaching of top Yahoo employees including Sean Suchter, former Yahoo Search Executive, leading many to ask why Microsoft would bother if they were planning to buy the company anyway.
However, with confusing briefings coming from both companies on almost a daily basis, predicting with any certainty what yahoo and Microsoft will do next is a difficult thing to do.
Oh, by the way, Kumo means cloud or spider in Japenese, it’s not just a made-up word.
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