Microsoft's Kumo search engine expected next week
Semantic capability is becoming the next major leap forward in search engines
Follow @infoworldThe search for Microsoft's mysterious Kumo may soon be over. According to reports, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Redmond's latest search brand, code-named Kumo, next week at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things D conference.
Ballmer is featured speakers at the conference, which runs from May 26-28 in Carlsbad, Calif. News that Ballmer could unveil Kumo during the conference broke Tuesday on the All Things D blog and in Wednesday's The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft has officially declined to comment on a Kumo debut, but the fact that the conference sponsors are scooping news on their own event suggests this rumor is either a publicity stunt or true. All Things D will only release a detailed schedule of featured speakers to conference attendees on May 26.
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Microsoft employees began internal tests of Kumo earlier this year, and by March images of Microsoft's overhauled search engine leaked online. The screenshots show a three-column search results page featuring useful tools like related searches, a single-session search history for quick backtracking, and a set of search categories that relate directly to your query. Searches for a musical artist, for example, would bring up categories like song lyrics, tickets, albums, and the artist's biography, while searching for a product would bring up categories for images, reviews, and manuals.
