14 DAY TRIAL // Come June 1st, 2009, Microsoft will shut down the Search and Give program built around Live Search. Search and Give is designed to allow searchers to ensure that queries entered into Live Search result in donations for a preferred non-profit organization, under the limit of $5 per month for 500 searches. According to the official Search and Give webpage, Microsoft has collected donations worth no less than $536,355 since the service was introduced back in September 2007. But starting next moth, users will no longer be able to generate donations by searching with Live Search.
“Beginning June 1st, 2009 the Search and Give program will be decommissioned. We plan on releasing a new program similar to Search and Give in the coming months. You may continue earning money for the charity or school of your choice per the program Terms and Conditions until June 1st, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. PT. After June 1st, the amounts earned will be tallied and final donations will be made thereafter to each cause,” reads an official announcement on the Search and Give webpage.
Microsoft is not saying much related to the new program it is cooking; however, speculation already points out connections with the upcoming rebranding of Live Search. Microsoft is currently dogfooding (testing internally) the successor of Live Search, codenamed Kumo. The Redmond company insists that Kumo is just a codename and not the actual brand. Microsoft is reportedly planning the release of Kumo for June 2, 2009.
“Members of Search and Give who have opted-in to receive promotional offers from Windows Live or MSN will be notified of updates to the program via email,” Microsoft added. “We have nothing additional to announce at this time about upcoming plans for Live Search. With Live Search, we are hard at work on understanding consumer needs and are increasingly finding big opportunities to advance the value that search engines are missing.”