MSN: MSN battles for search crown

UK head Gillian Kent tells Philip Buxton how MSN is aiming to conquer search. Today is Gillian Kent's last day before maternity leave. As director, MSN UK, she is performing her many tasks eight months pregnant. Such is the important position that search holds at Microsoft it is hard not to compare this imminent birth with the arrival of the company's new algorithmic search system, which is due before the second quarter of next year. MSN's all-out assault on the market peaked last month when it revealed new-look search and results pages. Microsoft has also announced an investment of $100 million (£55m) in a bid to make its search tool number one. This follows chairman Bill Gates' admission this year that Google had "kicked (Microsoft's) butt" in search and the firm would fight its way to the top.