• by Tanya Gazdik , March 2, 2009

Microsoft is conducting an internal test of Kumo, the rebranded version of Live Search, and is looking to its employees for feedback, according to an email sent late Monday afternoon.

Satya Nadella, senior vice president of research and development for Microsoft's online services division, invited company staffers to begin testing the new search engine. "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," Nadella wrote.

Kumo, which means "cloud" or "spider" in Japanese, is the codename for the internal test and it's not clear from the email whether the name will be retained. The service is not yet available outside the company and the email did not detail when it will go live externally.

"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," Nadella wrote. "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."

Features of Kumo vary by country, but results are organized in a way that saves time, according to the email. An explorer pane on the left side of results pages gives access to tools that help with tasks. Other features like single session history and hover preview help accomplish more in search sessions.

When Microsoft employees visit Kumo during the test, they will be asked to answer feedback questions on the experience.

The email was first made public by Kara Swisher on The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog , which also includes screenshots.

The relaunch of Window Live Search and the name Kumo was reported by Michael Arrington's TechCrunch last November.

"Why would Microsoft go through yet another rebranding effort?" Arrington asked. "Live.com has a lot of different services under its umbrella (some server software, some client software) in addition to search. It's also a burgeoning social network. Over time, Live.com will become a pure social network and personal productivity portal. You'll go there to access email, calendar, photos, activity streams, etc. But search belongs somewhere else, and it definitely needs a fresh start."