Microsoft’s Live Search Cashback–“The Search That Pays You Back!”–must have had at least some short-term positive effect on Microsoft’s search business because the company is augmenting it with another rewards program. Now, in addition to receiving Cashback rebates on certain purchases of products found through Microsoft’s live.com Web search, users can win prizes as well.
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In the past year, Microsoft has spent $1.2 billion to acquire enterprise search outfit Fast Search & Transfer. The company spent more than $100 million on Powerset and its natural language search. It spent untold millions on R&D. Microsoft has even taken the rather extraordinary step of paying people to use its MSN/ Windows Live search. None of this has done much to prop up its laggard search service, which continues to toddle along behind Google and Yahoo–a very distant third in the search market.
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