Microsoft has announced they have hired Ashley Highfield, often cited as a UK Internet visionary, to lead the UK Consumer and Online Business.
Highfield has left Kangaroo, a Hulu-type clone JV from a BBC-ITV-Channel 4 alliance to head this post.
AdViking thinks it’s pretty cool as by being responsible for the UK sales, marketing, content and programming, business development, partner efforts and operations for Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Live, MSN, Live Search and Microsoft Advertising he is uniquely positioned to realise some of his dreams set out in the early days at Flextech (I’ll try to dig out some of the deep web examples of this.
One question mark that comes to mind is does Highfield have the background to not lead a full frontal assault against Google but instead be eco-system centric and surround the big G? That is are we going to find a balanced approach to the market or is it going to be Owned and Operated at the expense of Publisher relationships?
AdViking 
[…] to vary as wildly as Highfield's reputation. It ranged from the adulatory – one blog called him a UK internet visionary – through the cordial, and then to the angry: internet pundit Clay Shirky said hearing the news […]