At the D: All Things Digital conference next week, Microsoft will launch a new search engine whose objective shall be to better position the search underdog for gleaning ad dollars. Full details have not been released, but the service has been code-named Kumo.

Through Windows Live Search, Microsoft currently captures about 9.9% of searches in the US, a distant third behind Yahoo (16.3%) and Google (64%).

Apropos to the new engine, a representative says Microsoft has "nothing to share at this time," MediaPost wryly reports.