When you think of search engines what is the first one that comes to your mind? If you are like millions of other Americans you’ll probably say either Google or Yahoo. Did you even know that Microsoft had a search engine? It’s called Live Search. (Sound familiar now? It’s the one that gets crappy results in comparison to its counterparts.) Well, Microsoft is hoping to change your mind.

Microsoft plans to introduce their new search engine, (nick-named) Kumo, within the next few weeks. It will only be introduced at D:All Things Digital Event. But by the way that Google and Yahoo’s new add-ons look, Microsoft may want to work on it a little bit.

Kumo is the updated version of Live Search and features a left-hand navigation menu that breaks down each category into a subcategory. The look certainly is different than other search engines. Still, the questions remains if that will be enough.

According to CNET, Google recently introduced new enhancements. These will allow people searching “new ways to filter results and adding new types of data to the search results themselves.” Some other new options provided by Google include providing a news timeline and the option to turn results into a spreadsheet.

Yahoo plans to “redefine Internet search by focusing on intent, not results,” according to CNET. They have been working on a project called SearchMonkey which aims to get Web publishers using thoroughly descriptive tags. If publishers were to do this, searchers would know exactly what content they could expect to see on those pages.

As for Microsoft, they remain the third popular search engine. (Can you guess who the first two are?) They’re desperately trying to regain popularity by this revamp possibly because their online services lost $575 million of their $721 million in revenue, last quarter alone.

Maybe Microsoft $100 million advertising campaign will help. There is no known date to when Kumo will be available to the public, if it will be available to the public or what it will actually be named.

While this analysis is bleak for Microsoft, it speaks volumes of Google. Google was created in 1998 by Sergey M. Brin and Lawrence E. Page with everything to prove. From there, it’s basically taken over the Internet world with a search-engine, e-mail, mapping, social networking and countless other helpful technologies. Then, there’s poor Microsoft which was founded in 1975 by (you know who) Bill Gates. It only seems right that after over 30 years, that Microsoft would have a well-established fan base and would be at the top of the game.

With the overwhelming popularity of Google and Yahoo, is it really worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Microsoft to spend if we all know that there’s only a slim chance of success?

Perhaps this is their last attempt before giving up. Maybe this is their last hurrah. I know I can say, personally, that I’m a big fan of Google. I have it in my toolbar. It’s my go-to search engine. Part of me hopes that Microsoft finds success and the other part knows they’re wasting their time. People are creatures of habit and many of us have been using Google or Yahoo for years. Will we be able to give something new a chance?

One thing to be said about Microsoft is that they are darn persistent.