Following leaked details revealing that Microsoft was testing a new search engine internally, the Redmond company confirmed officially the existence of Kumo, positioned as a Live Search killer. At the same time, the software giant indicated that a rebranding of Live Search was still being considered. Branded Kumo, which in Japanese can mean either spider or cloud, the new test search engine is available only internally to Microsoft employees. At this point in time the software giant failed to give any indication as to when, or even if, Kumo will be accessible to the public.

“There have been lots of questions about why we’re not opening this test to the public. This sort of internal testing is actually fairly commonplace at Microsoft and something we do with many of our products before we decide to release things publicly. Our hope is that our employees will give us great feedback on our new features and that it all becomes part of the external experience soon,” stated Mike Nichols, general manager, Live Search.

Of course, the big question with the new test search engine is whether Kumo will remain just a code name for testing the service. With Windows 7, Microsoft's codename graduated as the fully fledged final brand for the next iteration of the Windows client, but this is not a common practice at Microsoft. Traditionally, the Redmond company discards codenames and settles for a final brand toward the end of the development process of a product or service. This could also be the case for Kumo. And then again, Kumo could end up replacing Live Search both as a service and as a brand.

“There has also been a fair amount of speculation around the use of the Kumo brand and URL, and whether this means that we are rebranding Live Search. We’re using the Kumo brand and URL for this test experience to make sure employees understand they’re in a test experience. We believe this will encourage more active feedback. As for rebranding, it’s something we’re still considering,” Nichols added.