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Editor: Matt Paines

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Microsoft 'perks' up Live Search

Microsoft has launched its latest search reward program, SearchPerks, in another crack at Google's market share of search.

The scheme is open to the first million US users who sign up by 31 December and will run until May 2009.

SearchPerks, which rewards people for searching using a ticket system, isn't designed to replace its existing search incentive scheme, Live Search Cashback.

New members sign up with a 500-ticket starting bonus and rack up one new ticket for each keyword search on the Live Search engine- with a maximum of 25 tickets per day.

Users can accumulate up to around 5,500 tickets by the end of the scheme, which is enough to claim the top prize of a wireless Xbox 360.

Microsoft said that the program was designed to get users to try out Live Search rather than as a specific incentive to keep them searching.

General manager of Microsoft's Search Business Group, Brad Goldberg, said that at the moment people checked Live Search out for one or two searches.

If they could check it out for 20 to 40 searches, he added, then Microsoft was more likely to know if it could change behaviour.

Mac and Linux users will have to miss out, however, as SearchPerks only works with Internet Explorer 6.0 and above.

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