According to The Wall Street Journal's Tuesday report, Microsoft's long-anticipated next-generation search technology, code-named Kumo, is scheduled to make its first public appearance at the D: All Things Digital technology conference in Carlsbad, California, from May 26-28.

The new search technology - which is claimed to be Micrsoft's overhauled, re-branded Live Search to compete with Google - has been running an internal test since March this year. During the period, Microsoft has sent the message that the existing search engines are not as efficient as they can actually be.

Earlier this year, in an email to the Microsoft employees, Satya Nadella - Senior VP and head of engineering for Microsoft's Online Services Division - said that approximately 40 percent of search inquiries remained unanswered; and almost 46 percent of search-sessions take more than 20 minutes for completion.

Nadella said: "We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks."

With Microsoft still struggling to build a substantial search market share - trailing far behind Google and Yahoo - the company is obviously banking heavily on Kumo, which reportedly boasts of substantial changes in the Microsoft search engine. With Microsoft's $100-million acquisition of Powerset last year, the Kumo's inclusion of semantic search technology is a noteworthy enhancement for the search engine!