Well, the cat is finally out of the bag - InfoWorld is reporting that Microsoft has registered kumo.com, and will be using Kumo for it’s new search engine as well as other search-related services.
Heard that before? Well, it’s essentially the same thing as Live, except that the name doesn’t mean much in most languages (means “cloud” or “spider” in Japanese, though…. which aren’t bad puns, all things considered). Now, granted, Kumo may go over better than Live, especially if it has more marketing behind it. I’d also imagine that unlike Live, they’ve probably spent a year or so working on the name, testing it with focus groups versus others. Although I personally am worried that it’ll sound either too close to Kumon Learning or “kum-o” which might be slightly, uh, risque. But that’s besides the point - the major issue is that, like Live, nobody has heard of Kumo, and Microsoft has rarely shown itself able to launch a new brand. For people to move over, it’ll take more than a brand - it’ll take good reasons for people to try it out. That’s what will be interesting.
What’s surprising is that at CES, there hasn’t been any talk so far. Balmer’s keynote was all about Windows 7. OK, that pays the bills, and it’s a huge mea-culpa about the suckage that is Vista…. but the message was, “Look forward to the new Operating System.” It wasn’t “Look forward to Kumo, our new search and online service offerings.” CES is the place to announce that, unless of course you’re waiting for the SuperBowl or something (and again, please Microsoft, if you’re doing a commercial, don’t make it the 3rd after the halftime show. Please?)