A newly launched program, SearchPerks, gives you frequent flyer-style points for every Live search you perform (up to 25 per day). You download and install a program, which tracks your searches and tallies your total. Then, next spring, you can redeem your points for any number of exciting prizes.

Oh yeah, and you can only do it if you’re using Internet Explorer. (Pure coincidence, we’re sure.)

The move reeks even more of desperation than the company’s CashBack deal back in May. But even that approach — which basically amounted to paying people to use the search engine — didn’t seem to work: Microsoft’s Live Search has lost users since the start of ‘08, dropping about 1.5 percent in its share of the search engine market.

(Google, for what it’s worth, gained users in the latest ComScore analysis. It’s now at about 63 percent of the total search engine market. And it’s not even paying people or giving out prizes. Go figure.)

Microsoft’s already on its knees and begging. So what’s next? There’s only one logical step.

You heard it here first.

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Word of the acquisition first surfaced last week. Today, Microsoft confirms the San Francisco natural language search company will become part of its “Search Relevance team.” The announcement at Microsoft’s Live Search blog seems to imply that most, if not all, of the Powerset team will survive the transition.

Powerset focuses on understanding full sentences and actual context of search queries as opposed to the typical keyword-driven approach.

“… Problems exist because search engines today primarily match words in a search to words on a webpage,” Satya Nadella, senior VP of Microsoft search, portal, and advertising, explains. “We can solve these problems by working to understand the intent behind each search and the concepts and meaning embedded in a webpage.”

As The Inquisitr initially noted, however, the technology has only been put to use for searching Wikipedia articles — so we’ll have to wait and see how well it actually applies to web-wide applications.

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The software giant has secured rights to have Internet Explorer pre-installed with Live Search as the default option on all new HP computers in the U.S. and Canada. The IE installation will also include the Live Search toolbar.

Microsoft has similar arrangements with Lenovo. Google is partnered up with Dell and Mozilla to be the default search site — something Microsoft’s CEO knows all too well.

“Every Dell machine we buy at home that comes with the Google toolbar,” Steve Ballmer told a group of employees during a May gathering, according to the Associated Press. “It’s not a good day in my family when that happens,” he added, vowing to invest more in distribution deals for the future.

Microsoft researchers say about 40 percent of computer users stick with whatever default search site is set on their new computer.

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“Microsoft Live Search Cash Back” will work with eBay and PayPal to offer users cash for searching for products on Microsoft Live, then making a purchase from a resulting site. It will offer anywhere from two to 30 percent of the total price back. Barnes and Noble, Sears, and Home Depot are already on-board.

Microsoft will require you to register for an account to be eligible.

“We are investing to differentiate in vertical experiences and to disrupt the current model,” Microsoft’s official statement reads.

“We are incredibly desperate to lure people away from Google and thought offering them a few bucks might help,” our high-tech software translated.

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