Microsoft is working on something called "Tulalip" right now. The company claims that it's simply an internal design project, but there's suspicion that there could be more to the story — such as a new social search.
The folks at Fusible were the first ones to notice that Microsoft was using the socl.com domain for some sort of project when they spotted the teaser landing page pictured on the right. Once a WHOIS record search confirmed that the domain is in fact owned by the Redmond-based company, the analysis and speculation began. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
The "see how it works,” “terms of service," “privacy statement” and Facebook log-in links on the landing page weren't functional, but — as Matt McGee of Search Engine Land discovered — the Twitter sign-in button did work. Clicking on it led to a little bit more information:
In fact, the Twitter sign-in/authorization page confirms further that Tulalip is an “experimental app” from Microsoft Research.
The Twitter authorization screen says that Tulalip will be able to “update your profile” and “post tweets for you,” among other things — which sounds like the service may offer some kind of social networking management tools.
Combined with the sparse description on the Tulalip landing page — "With Tulalip you can Find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever” — these details would indicate that the mysterious service is a social search of some sort.
That's about all that is known about this project right now though, because Microsoft decided to make an attempt to nip the rumors in the bud by replacing the Tulalip landing page with the equivalent of "these aren't the droids you're looking for" shortly after the gossip began:
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Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's obsessed with Twitter and loves to be liked on Facebook. Oh, and she can be found on Google+, too.