Hey look, it’s iWon.com and AllAdvantage.com all over again. Maybe. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos must have had lunch.

Would I use this? Well, I am not sure. My first thought is to just go to Amazon or somewhere like PriceGrabber. But, I could be trained to use it, if I shop a lot, and pay attention to search engines (how much do “normal” people really think about this stuff?). A recession might help; we’ll call that wind at Microsoft’s back. I might use it. I might. But, in reality, I would probably go to Google and try a search there, see the results and ultimately the given products price…and then go to Live Search and try a search there to get the deal. That may be a stretch for most people, but, it is a habit that could be learned as it has common parallels in the physical world.

I will say I think this is really interesting! And give Microsoft props for trying it. Definitely something to watch. What is more significant is that this introduces a new value-add to search. We’ve seen vertical searches (images, news, etc.); we’ve seen multiple types of search results on one page (photos, blogs, news, shopping, plus the normal results); we’ve seen Flash used and cool effects/display. I think this is a cool idea. Will it work? Will I use it? I don’t know. One major problem: most people use Google, so first you have to get them to think about and then go to Live Search. A couple huge advantages: msn.com and Hotmail can introduce this very quickly to a lot of people.

A partial quote:

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft Corp. is offering cash rebates when people make purchases after using its search engine as the software maker begins to reveal how it plans to take on Google Inc. following the failure of its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo.

Analysts and investors have been eagerly awaiting details about “Plan C” after Microsoft acknowledged that its Plan A of going solo was troubled but also withdrew its Plan B — acquiring Yahoo — because Yahoo executives sought more money.

Under the cash program revealed Wednesday, Web shoppers who sign up for an account and buy items found using Microsoft’s Live Search cashback site will receive a percentage of the purchase price deposited into their account.

When the total reaches $5, the shoppers can redeem their “cold, hard cash” via eBay Inc.’s PayPal. Microsoft said the rebates are funded with a portion of the money it collects from advertisers.

So far, more than 700 merchants, including Home Depot and Zappos.com, have listed products on the site.

Full story via AP.Google (yes, the irony caught me too! continue reading…)

Screenshots about it – from http://search.live.com/cashback

One interesting note: I first saw this as an AP story, which should be everywhere. I did a Google News search for the headline, and a Microsoft owned website did not have the story. ap.google.com did though. Google News only had 2 or 3 results depending on whether I used quotes around the headline. Microsoft Live Search produced just over a page of results; again, no Microsoft owned websites had the story. By this point I am thinking something must be wrong with the Force, Luke, (sorry), so I go to msn.com and do an MSN site search for the headline… and presto…. MSNBC.com has it. (I love MSNBC’s site) You know you are an Internet geek when you find this amazing. Microsoft: focus on making your search experience better and people will use it; get your content available via search too! Screenshots below.

Update:

And true to form… info on the economics of the Microsoft cash back gimmick from Silicon Alley Insider…

Whoa: Microsoft Cashback Google-Killer Generates NO Revenue For Microsoft

Google Exec: Hell No We’re Not Paying Anyone To Use Google

While image search is better than it was 10 years ago (okay, that’s not saying much), it could certainly be better and applied in more ways.  Google has released new information on its image search advances… with a new VisualRank algorithm that parallels PageRank.  Read more here.