We have no idea why Microsoft still fiddles with search engine technology, but if you want to see how Microsoft fails in theory, check out this story on the new Kumo search engine.
According to All Things Digital, which has specialized in publishing internal memos that confirm the obvious tech failures, Microsoft is currently doing internal testing of its next-generation search engine codenamed Kumo. Microsoft once asked "Where do you want to go today?", and a search engine that allowed you to go where you wanted would naturally have become a hit for the company.
Of course, it was a fancy marketing slogan rather than a description of a brilliant strategy. If there's one thing Microsoft has never wanted, it is to allow you to go wherever you want. No matter how you look at it, Microsoft still hopes that the company will define Web technologies and user behavior.
As such, it didn't come as a surprise that the company would have loved to control Facebook, a platform which has become perfect to control user behavior. The Facebook founders are smart though, and know that if they sold the site to Microsoft, it would die quicker than it grew to what it is today.
If you take a look at one of the screenshots over at All Things Digital, you'll see why Microsoft's Kumo search engine will fail though. They've made a search engine that promotes the big brands that you're already searching within, such as Wikipedia, AOL, IMDB, Amazon and Myspace.
Honestly speaking, you don't need a search engine that gives 15 results to those sites. Those sites are the reason you go to a search engine in the first place. In other words, Microsoft's old slogan is still a defunct marketing gimmick. The company has no intention of sending you wherever you want to go today, just to the places you've already been.
Worst of all, if you incidentally search for "Audio S8", Microsoft will send you to MSN Auto. And then we suddenly know why Microsoft still fiddles with search engine technology, after all.
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