Microsoft has stitched together its product search engine with the company’s Live Search Cashback service ahead of the relaunch of its clunky, Google-wannabe brand.

The company confirmed the move in a blog post yesterday. It said bringing the two services under one roof would “make it easier for you to research, compare products, and save money."

Presumably, Redmond will also be saving a few pennies with the cut and shut job too.

Microsoft added that it has migrated from the legacy Jellyfish backend technology it had been using, following the acquisition of that company in October 2007, over to its own Live Search platform.

Desperate internet housewife MS launched its Cashback service last May, when it began bribing people to use its unwieldy search engine, Live Search. It said that anyone who used Live Search ads to find and buy certain products would be paid back a portion of the original purchase price. However, the service has been dogged with problems.

Microsoft is expected to give the Live Search brand a makeover later this year. Several names appear to be in the running for the revamp, including Kumo and, more recently, Bing.

Redmond revealed last week that its search engine re-launch project carried the code name of Kiev. The firm also confirmed it has been testing its new search engine in-house under the Kumo tag. ®

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