[nmglug] that new Qwest offer

[Mark Galassi]

Amigos, I just got an offer in the mail from Qwest.

Right now I have DSL with qwest.net as an ISP, rather than MSN.

It seems that with MSN I would get a cheaper and stronger deal, with
lots of extras which I would not really use, but I'd like to do the
simple MSN/qwest.net comparison for ISP service.

Does anyone know if MSN has any hidden yuckiness?  For example:

* do they require some integrated proprietary s/w to run on
  Windows/Mac, or do they "just work" with an off-the-shelf DSL modem?

* do they offer routed IP addresses?  I don't need it fixed, but I
  need to be able to ssh to it from the outside world.

* any privacy concerns?

* how bad is it that they are Microsoft?  (note that in general I find
  that all proprietary s/w companies are lame, not just Microsoft)