Broadband News
News, views and analysis
Microsoft's new spidery search to hit the web in a week
20 May 2009 | 13.25 Europe/London
Microsoft's next move in its continuing war against everything will be the launch of its new search engine, which is currently called Kumo. In Japanese, "kumo" can mean either spider or cloud - presumably trying to conjure up imagines of some kind of Internet arachnid that searches the web for you in a future where everyone's using cloud computing. So what's the bet the Redmond juggernaut ditches that name and rebrands it something like Windows Live Hotsearch by the time of its debut next week?
MS CEO Steve Ballmer is probably a bit miffed that Wolfram Alpha's getting all the press right now when he wanted Kumo to be the Google-killer in waiting (of course, we now know Wolfram Alpha is a "computational engine" and not an orthodox search engine at all). According to a memo leaked back in March from its search chief Satya Nadella, MS thinks there's quite a lot of room for improvement in the search engine marketplace:
However, the popularity of Google (and to a lesser extent Yahoo) suggests that customers are in fact finding what they need from search today - just somewhere else. As things stand, according to April figures from American research firm comScore, Google currently controls 64.2 per cent of all web searches, with Yahoo handling 20.4 per cent and Microsoft 8.2 per cent.
After failing to get its hands on Yahoo, it seems Microsoft's trying to move away from the look of Windows Live and hoping some of the Google magic rubs off on it by using a simple and bright interface for Kumo (screenshots viewable here). The problem is, imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it's innovation that's behind most of the current tech success stories (especially Google, which has just unveiled built-in translation services for Gmail).
Microsoft is playing catch-up in so many fields at the moment it almost looks like it's forgotten how to lead. For instance, restarting development on Internet Explorer has achieved little so far other than spreading the tabbed browsing system Firefox had already become famous for. Or then there's the Zune, brought out after Apple broke into music with the iPod (and rumours of a Zune phone refuse to go away - despite CEO Steve Balmer's famous judgement that the iPhone was doomed).
Unless it has some tricks up its sleeve, what we've seen suggests Microsoft's going to be able to claw much of the search market back with Kumo. We won't know for sure until the spider-cloud is released next week.
[ CNET | Techtree ]
MS CEO Steve Ballmer is probably a bit miffed that Wolfram Alpha's getting all the press right now when he wanted Kumo to be the Google-killer in waiting (of course, we now know Wolfram Alpha is a "computational engine" and not an orthodox search engine at all). According to a memo leaked back in March from its search chief Satya Nadella, MS thinks there's quite a lot of room for improvement in the search engine marketplace:
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. These and many other learnings suggest that customers often don’t find what they need from search today.
However, the popularity of Google (and to a lesser extent Yahoo) suggests that customers are in fact finding what they need from search today - just somewhere else. As things stand, according to April figures from American research firm comScore, Google currently controls 64.2 per cent of all web searches, with Yahoo handling 20.4 per cent and Microsoft 8.2 per cent.
After failing to get its hands on Yahoo, it seems Microsoft's trying to move away from the look of Windows Live and hoping some of the Google magic rubs off on it by using a simple and bright interface for Kumo (screenshots viewable here). The problem is, imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it's innovation that's behind most of the current tech success stories (especially Google, which has just unveiled built-in translation services for Gmail).
Microsoft is playing catch-up in so many fields at the moment it almost looks like it's forgotten how to lead. For instance, restarting development on Internet Explorer has achieved little so far other than spreading the tabbed browsing system Firefox had already become famous for. Or then there's the Zune, brought out after Apple broke into music with the iPod (and rumours of a Zune phone refuse to go away - despite CEO Steve Balmer's famous judgement that the iPhone was doomed).
Unless it has some tricks up its sleeve, what we've seen suggests Microsoft's going to be able to claw much of the search market back with Kumo. We won't know for sure until the spider-cloud is released next week.
[ CNET | Techtree ]
[...] a launch now expected within a fortnight, it looks like Microsoft is planning to ditch the “Kumo” moniker from its new search engine and go to market with an altogether different name. The [...]
27 May 2009 | 19.55 Europe/London