Liveside.net is reporting that Microsoft has just taken control of the domain name Kumo.com and the site is pointing to an internal Microsoft test site which can be accessed only by Microsoft employees. The name Kumo which literally translates to “cloud” or “spider” was among the names which came out on a post by Mary Jo Foley about Microsoft’s plan of rebranding Live Search.
I could understand Microsoft’s desire to rebrand Live Search as it has undergone so many name changes in the past years, that it became pretty confusing already as to what its search engine is called really. I, for one gets confused most of the time. Although, it’s easily accessible when you just type in Live.com on your browser’s address bar. But for name recall and for writing purposes, that’s where the confusion comes in really.
But then, if Microsoft is really seriously considering Kumo as the new branding of its Live Search product, would it really help their search engine at all? The problem with Live Search may not be with its branding but with other aspects of a search engine per se. Of course both Google and Yahoo have an advantage when it comes to name recall and effective branding of their search engine. In fact, they were able to establish their name as a form of action that denotes “search”.
Can Kumo establish the same thing? I’d rather not say the negative as it is too early to tell. Let’s see when Microsoft re-launch its search engine with a new branding sometime next year.
Comments
11 responses so far ↓
Rahul on Nov 24, 2008 at 4:37 am
Well for me Live.com sounds better than Kumo.com. But since this is a matter of better marketing and re-branding of brand giant Microsoft it is a wait and watch game for users like us.
Shanghai IT Solutions on Nov 24, 2008 at 5:54 am
I don’t think it would make much sense, with all the billions that MS has been pouring into building the Live search brand…
mahesh on Nov 24, 2008 at 6:43 am
I’m really not in favor of kumo…
Let’s see what happens in the end…
Saad Kamal on Nov 24, 2008 at 9:37 am
I don’t think so. Probably its for some other project.
Mark on Nov 30, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Has anyone gone to live.com and run a search for kumo.com. Interesting results on the first line!!!
Software Review on Dec 8, 2008 at 12:43 pm
It can help them?
Webmail on Mar 7, 2009 at 7:11 am
Hi,
That’s great to know about Kumo Search engine.
Web Backlinks on Mar 8, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I think “live” is attributed more to the gaming console XBOX 360. The term is overly used in the Microsoft world. KUMO.COM might hold better as a search engine brand.
DirectJump on Mar 10, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Would people readily use or think of “Kumo”? Doubt it…a little arcane.
Kumo can even be misspelled:
(”Koomoh”, “Koomo”, “Khumo”, “Kumho”, “Koomho”, “Koomoh”, “Kumoh”, “Khumho”, “coomo”, “coomoh”, …)
People may be more likely to “DirectJump” it though…
It’s a regular sounding word-phrase that makes sense (for English speakers anyways).
MS DirectJump…Microsoft DirectJump…MS DJ…Microsoft DJ…all have a nice vibe…
“DirectJump” - it can be thought of by itself or combined with “Microsoft” in front of it.
In time, it may be thought of as “DJ-ing” it…
Oh well…jmho.
Kumo is japanese for “spider” (e.g. web crawling) or “cloud” (e.g. cloud computing) but
most non-Japanese people just won’t incorporate it into their vernacular.
However, DirectJump is more comprehensible and sounds more normal. It’s regular but catchy. The word “DirectJump” also connotes low-level computer programming which could even earn the affection of some computer afficionados.
Can on Mar 13, 2009 at 8:55 am
Anyone know how can I test Kumo?
john smith on Apr 12, 2009 at 10:33 am
i can’t imagine the number and frequency of off-color jokes this name will engender….one more time MS shows that it really doesn’t live in the real world.
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