Looks like Redmond is looking for another way to boost its Live Search share, this time by renaming it. Mary Jo Foley (who on ZDNet is the only Microsoft blogger worth reading, she’ll give it to ya straight) says she has a tip saying thats exactly whats going to happen.
Some names considered were Bing, Hook, and Kumo (Japanese for either cloud or spider depending on the character). None of them seemed to have gained any traction, however. The Yahoo transaction would have answered that, she says, as search would have been branded under the familiar Yahoo name.
One thing is certain: Microsoft needs to fix its search offering, and not through paying its users to use it. Yes, thats going to give you a short term bump, but what makes you think those users who came in through and incentive will continue to search through Microsoft when that incentive’s gone?
