The choice of Qi Lu to run Microsoft's online services division offers the clearest picture yet about Steve Ballmer's vision for the company's online effort. Its colors are blue, red, yellow and green and it is spelled G-O-O-G-L-E.

Mr. Lu is not the sort of executive I might have expected Microsoft to pick. When thinking about Jerry Yang's decision to step down as Yahoo's chief executive, I wrote last month that the company needed less a business executive than an editor in chief. My point was that Yahoo would benefit from someone who can make sense of its sprawling set of services and create a coherent experience and brand for users.

My instinct was that much the same skill set would be useful at Microsoft. Its offerings have been jumbled between established brands like MSN and Hotmail and the newer Windows Live. And its marketing pitch of late has been about buying customers, through shopping rebates, rather than earning loyalty through services people understand and love.