Whilst the brand name of a product has alot to do with its success or failure (IMO) I think the fact that MS are investing time and money in an effort to try and compete with a word that is more than a household name its almost a word in our vocabulary is simply madness.
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Lets put aside Microsoft PR issues for a minute and just consider how entrenched Google is in our minds.
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Can the shareholders be happy with this? We are seeing MS hold onto products such as Zune which in my opinion are no closer to competing with Apple and are simply "keeping their heads above water" we see these lovely videos about a MS future, failed ads with comedians that werent funny (IMO) but worse than that, they think the best person to show the world how great the Windows platform is, is an 8 year old child.
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Is this just my take or are we being taken for fools? Are Microsoft shareholders really happy with the direction MS is taking and more importantly do they believe this on-going battle that MS has in the search stakes is money well spent?
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I hope regular readers will remember when we had that set of dubious posts claiming MSlive was more relevant in its results than Google. I challenged that by doing 50 searches myself. When this was put to the pro-MSlive poster they backed down, they had no answer.
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In the spirit of competition and fairness I welcome another MS attempt to take something which (IMO) they so desperately want and need, but if they want my advice for a catchy search engine branding that people are sure to remember, it would be "saveballmersjob.com" since Im perplexed how we can see MS go from one bad report to the next on the net (IMO) and Mr Ballmer not seem to take any of the responsibility or blame.
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Maybe Ive missed something. Maybe everyone else thinks Mr Ballmer is doing a great job. Id love to see people with this opinion posting here.

Well, Goblin, as a matter of fact, I actually do indeed believe that Mr. Ballmer is doing a great job.

For Apple, especially, he's just under Jobs as Apple's biggest cheerleader. And for Linux, and for the world of open source, he is doing a superb job of showing people the dark side of lock-in and enslavement, and showing them the growing appeal of freedom.

He's just not doing a great job for Microsoft. Or was that the point???!!! Hey, you didn't say a great job for whom!

(I've never though Jerry Seinfeld was more than mildly funny, and certainly not compelling enough to have ever watched even a minute of his sitcom. And his abysmal performance in that recent Microsoft ad fell way below even my own very, very low expectations for it I actually thought Bill Gates' exit video was funny, in a geek sort of way, but still rather funny.)

No, you haven't missed a thing!

Hi Philosopher!
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It was like my mind was just read when I asked what shareholders thought about MS direction.
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Boycott Novell has a story about it:
http://boycottnovell.com/2009/03/03/microsoft-investor-backlash/
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Maybe my "saveballmersjob.com" wasnt such a silly suggestion afterall.

And he has a great sense of humour and an uncanny way of predicting this market - I say keep him around, but I am not a shareholder so my opinion does not count.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo

Millions of phones. That proves it.

Goblin says:
"Maybe Ive missed something. Maybe everyone else thinks Mr Ballmer is doing a great job. Id love to see people with this opinion posting here."

Yep, I side with everyone else, Ballmer is doing a great job. In fact, even according to Net Applications, (most likely partly funded by M$) Microsoft with Ballmer at the helm, has only managed to lose a mere 6% of the desktop market share since the advent of Vista. The fact that Windows desktop market share continues to slide, should not concern its shareholders at all. After all, Windows7, or VistaRC2/DRM, is just around the corner, about to be release during the closest economic downturn since the great depression. Under Ballmer's guidance, Windows7, will be just as secure as the previous malware target, and no more. speaking of windows malware:

Study: Antivirus Software Catches About Half Of Malware, Misses 15 Percent Altogether

http://www.darkreading.com/security/antivirus/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215600282

"About 3 to 5 percent of all systems in an enterprise are infected with bot-related malware -- even within organizations running up-to-date antimalware tools, according to new data from Damballa.

Antivirus software immediately discovered only 53 percent of malware samples, according to data gathered by Damballa in a six-month study that used McAfee Scan Engine v5.3.00 to scan more than 200,000 malware samples. Another 32 percent were found later on, and 15 percent were not detected at all. The average delay in detection and remediation was 54 days.

"The window of catch-up is 54 days...that's a long delay," says Bill Guerry, vice president of product management for Damballa. "So if you're relying on AV, it's able to detect a little over half of malware immediately."
--------------------------------------------------
www.distrowatch.com when you really want a safer operating system. Windows, unsafe on any internet

Goblin says:
"Maybe Ive missed something. Maybe everyone else thinks Mr Ballmer is doing a great job. Id love to see people with this opinion posting here."

Yep, I side with everyone else, Ballmer is doing a great job. In fact, even according to Net Applications, (most likely partly funded by M$) Microsoft with Ballmer at the helm, has only managed to lose a mere 6% of the desktop market share since the advent of Vista. The fact that Windows desktop market share continues to slide, should not concern its shareholders at all. After all, Windows7, or VistaRC2/DRM, is just around the corner, about to be release during the closest economic downturn since the great depression. Under Ballmer's guidance, Windows7, will be just as secure as the previous malware target, and no more. speaking of windows malware:

Study: Antivirus Software Catches About Half Of Malware, Misses 15 Percent Altogether

http://www.darkreading.com/security/antivirus/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215600282

"About 3 to 5 percent of all systems in an enterprise are infected with bot-related malware -- even within organizations running up-to-date antimalware tools, according to new data from Damballa.

Antivirus software immediately discovered only 53 percent of malware samples, according to data gathered by Damballa in a six-month study that used McAfee Scan Engine v5.3.00 to scan more than 200,000 malware samples. Another 32 percent were found later on, and 15 percent were not detected at all. The average delay in detection and remediation was 54 days.

"The window of catch-up is 54 days...that's a long delay," says Bill Guerry, vice president of product management for Damballa. "So if you're relying on AV, it's able to detect a little over half of malware immediately."
--------------------------------------------------
www.distrowatch.com when you really want a safer operating system. Windows, unsafe on any internet

Typing www.start.com into the address bar of my browser led to a more Spartan "Live Search" page than Google's famed minimalist home page. Worse, once rerouted, I found that the "Live Search" label was off to the side, in small print, as if they could not or would not even afford the money for elementary formatting. Definitely uninspiring and uninviting.

So, MicroSoft not only owns the domain "Start.com," but pointedly "underminds" the value of its property in favor of more-dead-than-alive search.

MicroSoft continues to be its own worst enemy. Why do so many people hate a company that is so obviously "challenged"? Shouldn't we be feeling "sorry" for the "handicapped"?

Netflix Users Seething Over Microsoft Silverlight

http://www.crn.com/software/215600285

"Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) launched Silverlight in 2007 with Major League Baseball and Netflix as two of its highest-profile partners. But the subpar performance of Silverlight caused MLB.com to switch to Flash last November, and many Netflix users are now reportedly having similar difficulties.

Over the weekend, angry Netflix users flooded the company's blog with reports of choppy video performance and audio synchronization issues related to Netflix's Silverlight-based video player, which allows users to watch movies on their PCs. Although users have to opt-in to get the Netflix Silverlight player, many are upset about being unable to roll back to the older Windows Media-based player.

As a result, some users feel they've been duped into downloading Silverlight. "This is a big step backward; avoid it like the plague if you are OK with the old player. I was virtually tricked into downloading [Silverlight], and the resulting quality is nowhere near as good as before," one Netflix user wrote in a comment on the company's blog.

"Dealing with Silverlight has been the most unpleasant portion of the whole streaming experience, to be honest, and I hope that Netflix moves away from this technology," wrote another blog poster."

"Start" isn't useful as a search brand, as it's already a verb.
"Google" for something vs. "Start" for something? Doesn't work.

"Live Search" for something doesn't roll off the tongue either (same goes for "Yahoo Search" for something)

Kumo is "cloud" in Japanese, which is a noun, so making it into a verb might work. The service would actually have to be better than Google before normal people would change from "google for it" to "kumo for it".

I don't care what Microsoft call their search, while Bull-Mars is in the drivers seat their final hour will continue to approach with inexorable certainty.

Maybe if they called in Foogle or Hoogle they'd pick up a bit of traffic from peoples typos.

To get anywhere with search they'll have to produce a compellingly better functional product before they'll get folks eyeballs away from Google, then they can think about giving it a cute name - I suggest FreeBeer might get some attention.

I do sometimes use Live Search though, 'cos it always returns fewer retail sites than Google. "WD Raptor" at Google just put wdc.com as the fifth item, at Live & Yahoo it was the first item. The other day I was looking for specs for a specific Lenovo notebook, it was page 3 before Google turned up a Lenovo.com link.

Kumo will just be M$ latest failure to cut into Google's search market. M$ continues to pour money down the rabbit hole, in desperation of its shareholders, when they should be using that money on other things. Like windows security, the number one problem.

Why you should be concerned if you are a school teacher with windows computers in your classroom:

How poor web security nearly lead to a jail term

http://www.itpro.co.uk/610079/how-poor-web-security-nearly-lead-to-a-jail-term

"Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Connecticut, was found guilty in January 2007 of exposing children to porn. She was convicted on four felony counts of “impairing the morals of a child”. She faced 40 years in prison, all because pornographic sites popped up on her computer in front of her seventh grade class.

A 40-year-old woman, who knew nothing about computers, was using a machine which was totally unprotected. There was adware, no desktop firewall, no pop-up blocking, an unpatched version of Windows 98, and out-of-date anti-virus software.

As a result of the evidence Eckelberry and his teams of experts submitted a document resulting in the judge calling for a new trial in June 2007.

Amero, who was sick with heart problems and stress, was given the choice of defending herself or accepting a less serious misdemeanour charge. By this time she was too tired and wanted to get the case over with, so she accepted the charge, paid $100, and revoked her teaching credentials for life."
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All because a windows computer was infected with malware, that commonly will produce porn popups. Image, how much the trials, lawyers, lost time, and loss of job must have cost this woman, not to mention perhaps the stress contributing to her heart troubles.

Microsoft Planning Ad-Supported Model For Office 14 (MSFT)

An ad-supported Microsoft Office 14?

That's what Microsoft Business Division Chief Stephen Elop said was coming at a presentation to analysts at the Morgan Stanley Technology conference today.

It's an anti-piracy initiative. Here's Stephen explaining the need for a "diversity of revenue streams":

There will be ad-based revenue streams. There's an opportunity to draw those pirate customers into the revenue stream. We want to draw them into the Windows family and maybe there's an upsell opportunity later.

Still no word on what to expect feature-wise from ad-supported vs. paid Office, or when Office is due out (Steve Ballmer said not until next year.)

Obviously, there's a danger in cannibalizing the much more lucrative business of selling software licenses, but we're sure Stephen knows that.

----------------------
Will be MS product (Office , OS) free?

I would bet that answer is yes but 5 years at least (it could be faster yet if windows 7 fails).

In reference to Marco's post, here's one link of many:

www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-planning-ad-supported-model-for-office-14-2009-3

Drawing pirates into the Windows family so that they can be upsold to later. Wow! Almost makes one want to be a pirate!

Not!

The only way out of this for M$ is to purchase Yahoo and Facebook and not screw up what these two companies have built. Period. That's it. As anyone knows, Google is synonymous with search. So, the only way around that mindshare is to acquire the major properties like Yahoo and Facebook that would drive more and more search to M$. As such, M$ has to re-invent itself in terms of becoming heavily consumer centric.

Finally, Ballmer, aside from Vista, should have already been sent packing for these three MAJOR strategic failures:

#1) The Zune experience should have been integrated into Windows Mobile from day one. Had M$ done this, it's very likely that they would have realized much sooner that WinMo had to become much more consumer centric and fast, meaning full touchscreen support with a clean, consumer centric but easy to use for business, interface. WinMo 7 will probably turn out to be a great release, but it will come at least two years later, which is absolutely inexcusable.

#2) Related to mobile computing, it's absolutely astounding that Ballmer and M$ didn't see the signs on the wall regarding on-line application stores for smartphones. They've probably been working on Red Dog / Azure for two years, and no one realized that Apple was about to beat them to the punch regarding an online application store?

#3) YouTube. M$ had the chance to buy it for $500M, or less than 1/3 what Google paid. Certainly, M$ could have easily screwed this one up, but with the right product manager, it would have put M$ in a much better position to begin advertising it's search engine in conjunction with YouTube.

Forget Kumo, its only rebranded MSN/Live failure. M$ needs to puts its money in its failing Windows OS.

It always comes down to this, the figures for NetApplications on desktop OS market share. They are terribly skewed figures, a fact even they state.

Quoting Joe Wilcox:
“Steve (Balmer) has a surprising view of the computing universe to put Linux before Apple.”

from: Microsoft CEO Scoffs at Mac Share Gains blogs.eweek.com/applewatch/content/macbook/microsoft_ceo_scoffs_at_mac_share_gains.html
So Steve Balmer is more concerned about Linux than Mac. The question has to be asked why? If NetApplications data is correct, Linux with appox 1% and Mac with appox 10% would make Mac the real competitor to M$ on the desktop.

Obviously, either Balmer is deluded, or the NetApplications figure are way off. Or could it be, that both are right?
First a little background on NetApplications from Roy Schestowitz of Boycott Novell fame:

groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/c3d6b824936590d6

Roy Schestowitz wrote:
“> Why is Net Applications (Hitslink) changing its browser stats after publishing
> them?
> http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2008/09/04/why-is-net-applications-h...
> Hmmmmm...
> Let's see...
> Microsoft (and Apple) money on their table with results that satisfy both.
> Might logs from Apple.com explain the Hackintosh share?
> One of the executives used to work for Microsoft.
> Net Applications uses a Microsoft stack for hosting.
> Net Applications does not count traffic.
> Net Applications admits its stats are flawed.
> Net Applications keeps its methods secret.
> But hey! hey produce charts!! Therefore it must be true. “
But lets see if we can backward engine the figures that NetApplications puts out to be correct. First of all, NetApplication claims to use many many sites world wide. But gives no breakdown of those sites. I suggest, that the vast majority of those reporting sites, are in the USA. Secondly, I suggust that NetApps uses, and or has an agreement with its main two biggest customers (M$ and Apple) to use their sites as well to report OS market share. It stands to reason that if you use sites owned by Micro$oft and Apple, that their OS will be higher in the charts. It also stands to reason, that Apple sells the majority of its brand in the USA and Canada. A Ten percent market share for Mac in the USA is well within reason. Also, Linux has very little penetration in countries such as the USA and the United Kingdom compared to the rest fo the world.
This is how NetApplications is skewing the OS market share, and reporting figures that are vastly incorrect. Linux market share is most most likely higher than that of Mac, if you do not believe that, then read again the statement of Steve Balmer, who views Linux as more of a problem than Mac.

Microsoft’s long, slow decline continues

http://practical-tech.com/operating-system/microsofts-long-slow-decline-continues/

A very good article, and even better comments with it. The comment of pogson:

"Globally, GNU/Linux is doing much better than that and Mac OS is not doing that well. Mac OS is handicapped by being legal only for Apple’s hardware so it does not do very well in emerging markets where price is key. Apple’s figures on unit sales of Macs filed with the SEC indicate they make about 3% of all PCs. They would be in the top 5 if they really did have the share NetApplications suggests.

This means the population sampled by NetApplications is biased in some way, likely heavily into business in North America.

I think the declining number for that other OS is good, though because it is likely from M$’s most locked-in customers, those who believe they need to run this or that app which only runs on that other OS.

Assuming that other OS is at 88% and MacOS gets 3%, we are left with 9% for GNU/Linux, globally. I think it may be higher because it is very popular and growing quickly in BRIC countries."
--------------------------------------------------
Now I am not so sure I would agree with Pogson on those percentages, but heck, that most likely more accurate than the ones from NetApplications.

M$ is perhaps using NetApps to suppress the truth about the real percentages. Its M$ way to try to keep commercial software companies from making programs and games to sell to Linux users, and to prevent OEM's from pre-installing Linux on their computers. If so, could this not be another anti-trust violation?

Kumo is Kaka. Well, the name anyway.
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Let's praise MS for getting away from names like "Windows Live Search for Windows Internet Explorer for Windows Vista", but Kumo means nothing to no one, in whatever language. OK Google doesn't really either but the "subtle" geek "joke" with Googol. It has no appeal whatsoever. Is it really only an internal code name? If it is, what other lame name can they have come up with for the real thing? Kookoo? Krap? Krazy?
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Googling for Kumo doesn't kome up with much that anyone else is already using. I guess this limits the potential brand infringement lawsuits.
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But MS search engine must be/become synonym of being my best buddy ever? Man's best friend, like a dog. Give the damn thing a dog's name.
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The last dog doing search for you was the one in XP's file search. Silly looking and pointless but the idea of a dog was right.
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So why not Knine, K9? But I want it to be clever, cute, relentless, like a Beagle. There you go, call the damn thing "Beagle", that actually is the XP search dog. Sounds a bit like another search engine ;) and it could be defended in court as it already was used as a search assistant.
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OK, Beagle might not be the best idea, but it's better than Kumo or anything that could start with a K.

@David:
I liked the Dog name idea instead of Kumo for MSN search. And while Beagle is not a bad idea, remember that M$ already owns the name "Clippy." Most likely they will not use the Dog name, as Dogpile has been a multi-search engine for a long time. (and far better than MS search too) Then again, while M$ could not call their search Dogpile, since that name is taken, how about MSPile?
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Reports: Microsoft lets users yank IE8 from Windows 7
Newest leaked build offers option to remove browser

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128976

"A just-leaked build of Windows 7 lets users remove Internet Explorer (IE), the first time that Microsoft Corp. has offered the option since it integrated the browser with Windows in 1997, two bloggers reported today.

The move might have been prompted by recent charges by the European Union that Microsoft has stifled browser competition by bundling IE with its operating system, the bloggers speculated.

According to postings on Chris' Repository of Knowledge and AeroXperience, the 7048 build of Windows 7 -- a version that has not been released to the public but is available as a pirated copy on file-sharing sites -- includes an option to eliminate Internet Explorer 8 (IE8)."
--------------------------------------------------
What a little pressure from the EU can do. But still, this is not enough.

Some of us remember when Opera filed its complaint with the EU about IE and the lack of open standards. In less than a weeks time M$ released a beta of IE8 back then, that was closer to standards compliance. One would have to wonder, if maybe M$ doesn't work on more than one prototype of its software. In this case, the one with the open standards was selected, in order to partly preempt the coming EU court decision.

Hi Chips!
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I was having this conversation over on twitter (in regards to the IE8 removal option) since IE7 is still an integral part of the OS, I agree with you and do not think it enough to appease the EU.
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Ive made my feeling very clear on this EU issue, and whilst I should be pleased, I cant help feeling like this ruling (and others that may follow it) will result in nothing but confusion and chaos.
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We've already seen IEs userbase be eaten away without any sort of intervention from the EU, and I believe the message is starting to get through to the "average user" that an IT solution does not have to come from Redmond. I am more interested in the question of anti-trust being considered at the over the counter PC stage, not a browser issue, which to be fair people seem very aware and very happy to download better options from outside of Microsoft.
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One question I may have missed (or not has not even been answered) is how is this EU situation going to affect the release date for the RC. Has Microsoft given any official word on:
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a/ How they are going to comply (if indeed they are)
b/ What delays (if any) there will be to Windows7 in Europe.
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If I was a shareholder, these would be two pretty important questions, and unless Ive missed the official word from Microsoft, it seems a little silly of them (IMO) to be talking about new schemes of theirs when, (IMO) a pretty important issue is still to be resolved.

"Start" should be the new branding for Microsoft's search engine. Todd Bishop of TechFlash and Joe Wilcox of Microsoft Watch both clearly identify the many brand benefits of Start and the many disadvantages of Kumo. Please Yusuf Mehdi, Dr. Qi Lu, and Satya Nadella consider what is the message you want your brand to deliver to consumers? Now is the opportunity to move beyond searching for a list of blue hyperlinks as we have with current commoditized google/yahoo/ask/live results. The message of Start could be: start with the right result; start with the correct answer; start completing tasks; start projects; start adventures; start with the right air fare (farecast); start with the best news, images, video, etc. Finally, this brand is a verb to surpass google with a simple phrase: "Start it."