Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Satya Nadella's email on Kumo Search

This is the internet email from Satya Nadella, Senior Vice President, Research and Development at Microsoft's Online Services Division and shed more light on Kumo Search, one of the firm's most exciting projects in 2009.

From: Satya Nadella

Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 4:18 PM

To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)

Subject: Announcement: Internal Search Test Experience

The Search team needs you. We've been working hard to improve our search service and want to share the progress we are making with you. We are launching a new test program called kumo.com for employees to try and provide feedback. Kumo.com exists only inside the corporate network, and in order to get enough feedback we will be redirecting internal live.com traffic over to the test site in the coming days. Kumo is the codename we have chosen for the internal test.

In spite of the progress made by search engines, 40 percent of queries go unanswered; half of queries are about searchers returning to previous tasks; and 46 percent 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.

We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks. During the test, features will vary by country, but you'll see results organized in a way that saves you more time. An explorer pane on the left side of results pages will give you access to tools that help you with your tasks. Other features like single session history and hover preview help accomplish more in search sessions.

Your Next Search...

To get started, visit kumo.com or click one of the samples below to see how it's possible to find the right results more easily:

As employees, you are some of our most informed users and our toughest critics, and we highly value your input and feedback to help us build a better service. You have been an important voice in our efforts, and the feedback you've sent us since the company meeting has been amazing.

When you visit kumo.com, at the bottom right corner of the each page you'll see a feedback badge. We ask that each time you use the test site, click the feedback badge and take a moment to answer four quick and simple questions. Feel free to reach out to give us extra feedback directly on our blog and by mailing (an internal alias). For answers to common questions make sure to see our FAQ.

We are committed to rapid innovation and improvement. Please give the test site a try, rate the results and let us know what you think.

- Satya

Our other topics related Kumo Search:

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Kumo Search Screen Shot are out


As the rumours on Microsofts Kumo search gather momentum CNET has published the 1st Screen Shots of Kumo search. Kumo Search page is visible below and this is the 1st set of feedback that will go back to the company about Kumo.

In fact the example given in the Kumo search Screen Shot is not the best one. This is a huge query that most search engines can handle easily. The problem for Kumo will come when the long tail and deep web queries are applied on Kumo search.

It would be interesting to see what king of an Index is being built out and what is the size of this index. I just hope Microsoft is not using the old index that they used in Live search and changing the UI for Kumo. That would be a sure way to failure.














Image: Cnet
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Microsoft Kumo Search moving ahead

Microsoft has been looking to make an entry into the Google dominated Search Market for the last few years. They famously made an $45+ billion bid (Its probably good that the bid did not go through at that time as the markets tanked after that) to take over Yahoo more than a year ago—and a large part of Microsoft's interest in the Internet giant was its search business, which is second only to Google in market share. Google accounts for roughly two thirds of the Internet search market and growing, Yahoo accounts for about 20 percent, and Microsoft and players like AOL and Ask.com fight for the rest. Although Microsoft would still like to do a deal of some sort with Yahoo and would like to take over only the search business rather than Yahoo's entire operation—the Redmond company is putting together a plan B.

Microsoft has launched internal testing on an update to its Live Search product, codenamed Kumo, currently available only within the company's internal network. We have been covering the developments on Kumo for the last few months and now it finally seems that the product is ready for internal demo to the engineers and product managers at Microsoft.

The new Microsoft Kumo Search service is positioned to help users "accomplish tasks" rather than merely click on search results. The service features an explorer pane on the left side of the results listings with related search terms and tools to help users refine or manage their search; search refinement features vary with searches, so one search might offer links to let users see related images and videos, while another might emphasize related links and businesses.

The search results listings also attempt to organize results into clear categories, where possible and the ordering of the categories might mean that the thing a search user most wants is shuffled to the bottom of the pack. And, of course, the listings features sponsors links and text-based ads—because there's no point in offering a search service unless Microsoft can sell it to advertisers. Kumo also features a session history so users can easily find and return to previous search hits.

So are the users going to look at categories and a complicated dashboard of options to find their way through the network. This is something that only time will tell. Microsoft will have to make some significant wins in the blogging and early users community to get the momentum going. Offering this to the current Live Search users is not going to help Kumo in any ways.

So the big question now is when will Kumo Search Launch? Watch this space for more.

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