There has been much buzz about Microsoft's Wednesday Searchification event. Several Microsoft bloggers have cooed over a revamped Windows Live Search service, contributing to the anticipation. We can't say what's coming, but we can say what Microsoft should and shouldn't do with Live Search.

Live Search may seem like a consumer product, but I expect the plumbing and future emphasis will be all-enterprise class. The effort's heritage derives from Microsoft enterprise software. Soon after the company put more emphasis on search, Microsoft.com switched over to SharePoint-driven search, in June 2003. Microsoft.com and Live Search have evolved since, but the enterprise focus remains an undercurrent for the consumer search service.

But Live Search also continues to trail Google and Yahoo, with Microsoft stuck at No. 3. But three isn't a bad place to be, considering Google and Yahoo really are smaller problems. All three companies face the same larger competitor—offline advertising, particularly the broadcast medium. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have raced against each other to make bigger buckets to catch the cash as it moves online.