As Danny Sullivan reported a while back, Microsoft has been testing and playing around with a new brand, called Kumo. As he reported, when you went to Kumo.com there used to be an actual search engine there, that looked a lot like today’s Bing.com. However, what I find very interesting to note: You can no longer search at Kumo.com. In fact, when you go to Kumo.com now, it redirects to Bing.com.
Is Microsoft getting ready to change the Bing brand to Kumo? Well, that may be the case–if the big change Microsoft made in the past 24 hours means anything. Microsoft changed the nameservers of 211 domains that they own, to the MSFT.Net nameservers. If they had no plans at all to start using the Kumo brand publicly, then they probably would not have any reason to make this change? That’s only my speculation, at this point. Nothing has been officially announced.
Here is a list of the Kumo domains:
kumo3d.com
kumo3d.net
kumo3d.org
kumoacademic.com
kumoacademic.net
kumoacademic.org
kumoad.com
kumoad.net
kumoad.org
kumoadcenter.com
kumoadcenter.net
kumoadcenter.org
kumoads.com
kumoads.net
kumoads.org
kumoadvertising.com
kumoadvertising.net
kumoadvertising.org
kumoapi.com
kumoapi.net
kumoapi.org
kumoapis.com
kumoapis.net
kumoapis.org
kumoassistance.com
kumoassistance.net
kumoassistance.org
kumoautos.com
kumoautos.net
kumoautos.org
kumobiz.com
kumobiz.net
kumobiz.org
kumobooks.com
kumobooks.net
kumobooks.org
kumobusiness.com
kumobusiness.net
kumobusiness.org
kumocareers.com
kumocareers.net
kumocareers.org
kumocares.com
kumocares.net
kumocares.org
kumocars.com
kumocars.net
kumocars.org
kumocelebrities.com
kumocelebrities.net
kumocelebrities.org
kumocelebrity.com
kumocelebrity.net
kumocelebrity.org
kumocentral.com
kumocentral.net
kumocentral.org
kumocharities.com
kumocharities.net
kumocharities.org
kumocharity.com
kumocharity.net
kumoclassifieds.com
kumoclassifieds.net
kumoclassifieds.org
kumocode.com
kumocode.net
kumocode.org
kumocollections.com
kumocollections.net
kumocollections.org
kumocoupons.com
kumocoupons.net
kumocoupons.org
kumodeals.com
kumodeals.net
kumodeals.org
kumodirectory.com
kumodirectory.net
kumodirectory.org
kumoearth.com
kumoearth.net
kumoearth.org
kumoecosystem.com
kumoecosystem.net
kumoecosystem.org
kumoexpo.com
kumoexpo.net
kumoexpo.org
kumofeeds.com
kumofeeds.net
kumofeeds.org
kumofind.com
kumofind.net
kumofind.org
kumogiving.com
kumogiving.net
kumogiving.org
kumoguide.com
kumoguide.net
kumoguide.org
kumohealth.com
kumohealth.net
kumohealth.org
kumohealthvault.com
kumohealthvault.net
kumohealthvault.org
kumohelp.com
kumohelp.net
kumohelp.org
kumohomes.com
kumohomes.net
kumohomes.org
kumojobs.com
kumojobs.net
kumojobs.org
kumolab.com
kumolab.net
kumolab.org
kumolabs.com
kumolabs.net
kumolabs.org
kumolife.com
kumolife.net
kumolife.org
kumolifestyle.com
kumolifestyle.net
kumolifestyle.org
kumolocal.com
kumolocal.net
kumolocal.org
kumomashup.com
kumomashup.net
kumomashup.org
kumomashups.com
kumomashups.net
kumomashups.org
kumopartners.com
kumopartners.net
kumopartners.org
kumopix.com
kumopix.net
kumopix.org
kumoplatform.com
kumoplatform.net
kumoplatform.org
kumoproducts.com
kumoproducts.net
kumoproducts.org
kumoqna.com
kumoqna.net
kumoqna.org
kumorealestate.com
kumorealestate.net
kumorealestate.org
kumorebates.com
kumorebates.net
kumorebates.org
kumoreviews.com
kumoreviews.net
kumoreviews.org
kumorewards.com
kumorewards.net
kumorewards.org
kumosdk.com
kumosdk.net
kumosdk.org
kumoseek.com
kumoseek.net
kumoseek.org
kumoshopping.com
kumoshopping.net
kumoshopping.org
kumosyndication.com
kumosyndication.net
kumosyndication.org
kumotraffic.com
kumotraffic.net
kumotraffic.org
kumotranslator-int.com
kumotranslator-int.net
kumotranslator-int.org
kumotranslator-ppe.com
kumotranslator-ppe.net
kumotranslator-ppe.org
kumotranslator.com
kumotranslator.net
kumotranslator.org
kumotv.com
kumotv.net
kumotv.org
kumovideosearch.com
kumovideosearch.net
kumovideosearch.org
kumovoice.com
kumovoice.net
kumovoice.org
kumoxrank.com
kumoxrank.net
kumoxrank.org
localkumo.com
localkumo.net
localkumo.org
qnakumo.com
qnakumo.net
qnakumo.org
shopkumo.net
shopkumo.org
travelkumo.com
travelkumo.net
travelkumo.org
Just to clarify: these domain names were originally registered by Microsoft back in November 2007. However, the big change that they made just now is the fact that they were originally on different nameservers–and now they have been moved to point to the main MSFT.Net nameservers. What I’m questioning here is: why now?
