Steve Berkowitz, former CEO of Ask.com and now senior VP of Microsoft’s Online Services Group, overseeing Windows Live and MSN, describes the challenges with turning around Microsoft’s online unit in a New York Times interview.
Communication, inertia, and a penchant to focus on technology instead of user experience are all making Berkowitz’s job more difficult, he says. he’s also not too fond of the “Windows Live” brand, but he’s not about to change that until more pressing concerns are addressed — like making a search engine people want to use. So for now, Microsoft will keep both MSN (the portal) and Live.com (the search engine).