Microsoft today announced the creation of a new group spun out of Windows Live, the Live Search and Ad Platform.  Live Search (formerly Windows Live Search, formerly MSN Search) will join adCenter in a new group that will not report to Steven Sinofsky and Windows Live, but will be headed by Satya Nadella, and report directly to Kevin Johnson, the Platform and Systems division head.

The move further separates what has been a confusing and ill defined set of Windows Live services into three groups: MSN - for content; Windows Live - for services; and Live Search and Ads - for, well, search and ads.  Whether or not this latest restructuring will help to define Windows Live or just add to the confusion remains to be seen.