An email from Microsoft search executive Satya Nadella to Microsoft staff, just leaked to CNet along with the screen shot above show that a trial of "Kumo" is under way, albeit with access restricted to those on the company's corporate network.

The new-look Live search engine is rebranded "Kumo" in the screenshot, as predicted by Seattle Tech Report earlier today following critical comments about the current "Live" moniker by Microsoft's Kiwi expat CFO Chris Liddell.

But I don't think all is lost. The unappealing Kumo, afterall, might just be the codename for this pre-release beta (then again, this is the company whose brain-stormers brought us "Windows 7").

Another problem: the "Kumo" interface looks fine as far as it goes. It's clean and easy to follow, and seems good at throwing up associated categories, search results in images and different media, and associated search terms.

But that's not the issue. The crux of the matter is that the phone is simply off the hook.

Microsoft's search engine and other online services are as good as Google; in some cases, arguably better. But around 70% of surfers worldwide and about 92% here (and the AdWords buyers who follow them) simply visit Google on autopilot. Something radical is needed to jolt them out of their torpor.

From what little we've seen of Kumo so far, it's not it.

There's something missing, in her life.

Melinda Gates considers affair – with iPhone
Echoing Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer's 2006 comment to Fortune that he wouldn't let his kids have an iPod, Bill Gates' wife Melinda has told Vogue that "There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household. But iPods and iPhones are two things we don't get for our kids."

But the forbidden fruit can be tempting.

"Every now and then I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone,' " Ms Gates (pictured) told the magazine.

Here's a tip, Bill and Steve: don't ban your kids from using an iPhone. Why not try something a teeny bit more positive, like releasing a handset that they actually want to buy (whatever happened to the rumoured Microsoft Zune phone?). That would have been a good start). Bonus tip: don't call it Kumo Phone.