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Your Qwest Leads To MSN
bee writes: "Qwest.net has announced an alliance with MSN that will 'transition' Qwest's dialup and DSL customers to MSN Internet Access. If you're a Macintosh user, you'll be able to continue on Qwest until they figure out what to do with you. Zero mention, of course, is made of Linux or BSD. Here's the FAQ they're pointing their customers to."
My condolences.
Perhaps if you improved your spelling you could get a raise.
Shut up, be happy. The conveniences you demanded are now mandatory. -- Jello Biafra
Basically I think the "Windows only" thing is probably only an issue for people with internal Intel DSL routers. Since these things actually sit in a PCI slot, they need drivers and if those drivers are only available for Windows, that's what you have to go with. However when you have an external router, it's different. It has a phone jack on one side, and eithernet on the other. It is actually what talks to the equipment and logs you in and so on, the system behind it has no involvement.
I'm additonally unwilling to leave Qwest since they seem to be the only ISP willing to work with me on the static IP thing. None of the other ISPs I talked to had a workable deal for static IPs, and some just wouldn't offer them at all.
At any rate, I'm not staying with their service just ecause it works with my stuff (I also have a Linux server on the network), but rather because they have the best deal right now. If someone else can offer me something equal or better to what Qwest has, I'd consider switching but I'm not going to move to an inferior solution.
The equipment you use for the DSL line is determined by the DSLAM the phone company uses. Qwest is still going to control the physical DSL cricuts, MSN is just going to replace Qwest.net as their ISP service. That means the equipment will not change. Also you'll still have the option to have your virtual circut routed to a different ISP as required by law. You have other options besides Qwest.net now with a Qwest DSL line and you will continue to have those options with MSN. I've had a DSL line for over two years now, one year with a Tucson company called Starnet, the second with Qwest.net. Both were on a Qwest DSL circut.
There are many reasons why you should transition your service:
- With more than 230 million visitors per month, MSN is available in 33 markets and in 17 languages. (Mom, can I jump off the cliff, too? All the cool kids are doing it.) (More importantly, *any* ISP lets you visit MSN.)
- Quality, reliability and speed. (Unlike all the other ISPs?)
- Technical support, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at no charge!
- (Ditto?)
-
- Continue to enjoy POP3 e-mail service, with an option to switch to the world's largest Web-based e-mail service, MSN Hotmail®, via MSN Internet Explorer and get up to nine e-mail screen names for you and the rest of your family. (You can get Hotmail, and hundreds of screen names, from any ISP. But once you transition your MSN e-mail to Web-based, it's difficult or impossible to go back to POP3/SMTP.)
- Instant messaging from MSN Messenger Service, the fast growing instant messaging service. (Accessible from any ISP.)
- You get more space for your personal Web site from 5MB to 30MB. (Okay, one real one.)
- Easy access to great resources from MSN that help make your life better.
- Catch up on the latest news from MSNBC (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Listen to your favorite music (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Play games (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Send instant messages (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Create an online photo album for your family (Accessible from any ISP, whether or not you use MSN to do it..)
- Personalize your home page with weather, sports, news or local events (Ditto.)
- Shop from the convenience of your home (Other ISPs block Amazon.com or something?)
- Invest your money wisely (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Search for information (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Send online greeting cards (Accessible from any ISP, unfortunately.)-:
- Plan your vacation (Accessible from any ISP.)
- Take care of your family's health (Information to help do this is accessible from any ISP, though you're gonna have to get off the darned Internet to do something with it.)
- And, so much more
And, I'm so much less impressed.Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
When we moved from Solaris/Apache to Win2K/IIS, I moved all our old Perl/CGI stuff straight over without a hitch (although I did have to redo the sendmail stuff to use CDO).
Currently, the plan is to transition those customers who:
Looks like Linux users stay with Qwest.net. You get to keep your Qwest address, too, not like the Windows users:
Your Qwest.net e-mail address(es) will be inaccessible 10 days after you successfully transition your service to MSN Internet Access.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
Yep. this guy's exactly right. MSN is just another ISP...most of their suburban lines are sub-let through national chains. They're *almost* a virtual ISP.
I have a lil P200 (fine, yes, it's running Linux) that acts as a dialer and dhcp server, and all I have to do is use "MSN/username" in the dialing script. Works like a charm.
Nary a butterfly to be found.
of windows-using Qwest users switching to another provider out of protest?
.. wierder. Still..
I mean, ok, obviously Qwest is happy (or at least satisfied) with throwing out the mac users and the linux users. And clearly the mac and *n?x users are going to have to find something else.
So, my question to the windows-using qwest people: if things turn out the way it looks like they will, and the mac-using and linux-using populace lose their qwest access, will you consider leaving qwest in protest? Or will it just be, hey, they'll accept MY hardware configuration, i'm ok, it isn't my problem?
Microsoft's newest tactic is amazing. In addition to their old tactics, they now have the new and amazing trick of buying customers. That's right, can't get a sufficiently high-quality product (or one that seems solid enough) that you can establish a user base through sheer quality of product? That's alright, you can always buy thousands of users from another ISP, or bribe anyone who is willing to develop for the directx apis or the xbox with gobs of money, so that you BUY an existing user base and create some sort of "momentum" for the platform. (Munch's Odysee will be a strong argument for claiming the xbox isn't vapour. It should be; microsoft paid good money to be able to produce the Oddworld Inhabitants as proof that there is, indeed, third-party support for the xbox. Except if you paid them off, can they *really* be called a third-party?)
Customers are now a commodity, to be bought and sold. Amazing. Customers are now what Labor was 100 years ago. Except this seems somehow
Does anyone really use the "start page" of their ISP?
Okay fine, my mother probably does... and maybe my grandmother... but so what? Great, when you log on, you have to look at the first screen of MSN.com.
and some things about those Jupiter ratings about visitors to MSN.com and related properties: the most recent TheStandard had an article breaking down the top sites (by visitors) in about 20 or 30 different countries and began making the story about how it seemed that with Passport, Hotmail, MSN.com, MSNBC, etc., it seemed that Microsoft was building an online media conglomerate with more unique visitors that Yahoo, AOL, etc.
What it turned out to be was a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Every time a windows user types in a bad domain or url, they get that auto-search redirect page (counts as a hit/visitor). When they log out of hotmail, their redirected to passport.com (another visitor to passport). And they found that a large number of users have never even changed their start page from the factory installed (microsoft) one.
Smoke and mirrors.
What this press release about Qwest and MSN says is very little except "lets get more newbies to go to our page first"
Personally, I know a few people and have seen a lot of people sign up for MSN when they bought new computers. Seems like a lot of people who bought new computers took advantage of that "sign up with MSN for 3 years, and take $400 off your computer purchase today" offer. That deal helped a lot of people get a computer in their home. Now everyone's locked into a 3, 2, or 1 year contract with them. Sucks, I know.
Any recommendations for a good, independent dialup ISP in the Denver metro area that's reliable, doesn't limit your hours, is about $20/month, and doesn't give a rat's ass what OS you choose to run? Basically, I'd like to find the Denver equivalent of Santa Barbara's Silicon Beach.
(I wish we could do DSL or cable modem, but we're too far from the switch for DSL, and, as for cable modems, our apartment complex uses this company called Optel (not AT&T like most of the metro area), and they don't offer that service. Sprint's Broadband Direct service would also be cool, I just don't think we'd get permission from the apartment managers to put up the antenna.)
Eric
Be who you are...and be it in style!
Actually I beg to differ, check this out from the small print at the bottom....
Somehow I don't think they are considering 2.4 a 'later operating system'
Wait until you start using MSN. You'll be so happy, you'll be leaping from windows. Or is that leaping from Windows? Hmmm...
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
(Honestly, I think many of them decided to switch after waiting on hold for over an hour for technical support -- our average hold time is under three minutes...)
While many of our customers are still coming from AOL and are not ready for a normal internet connection, it actually seems that computer users are beginning to understand why large ISPs are getting such a bad name. Today, the average dial-up customer is much more likely to switch ISPs because of poor service than in the past.
Hopefully this trend continues. If I wanted to be an MSN customer I would have signed up with them...
(Despite my e-mail address, Qwest is no longer my ISP)
Adversive
My cat's breath smells like cat food.
I am not worried about it. Why? Two reasons:
1. I have an external Cisco DSL router, which my Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris boxes are happily connecting through.
2. I have the ability to choose what ISP I want. I DO NOT have to use MSN. There are several local outfits that would be happy to provide ISP services through my Qwest DSL line.
BTW, it's not like Qwest service was good to begin with. Oh, I have to switch my email address? Oh the horror! Whatever shall I do? Well, considering I have a yahoo account, not much.
He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. - "Big Al" Einstein
Why do you use it? I'll admit that I use it occasionally, but only in order to keep in contact with friends via MSN messenger (i'm trying to persuade them to get ICQ instead). Given the, shall we say, twtchiness of MSN in the last few weeks, I'll be surprised if the number of people using MSN hasn't plummeted due to the spectacular lack of customer service that they have exhibited in recent, and less recent, times.
Given the inherent problems that have been flagged up with regards to Microsoft and MSN in the last few weeks, months, years and decades, I personally have very little Faith in their much-touted security features (or should that be bugs?) in MSN.
Ceci n'est pas une
So does anyone else get the feeling that this is going to slowly lock out all non-Windows users (yeah, we'll update you Mac users, um, later. Linux? What's that?)? And if it does so, then would this be another case for the DoJ?
Bend over and ride the light.
m00.
Hi, I'm currently a Qwest employee and DSL customer I agree that the Transition FAQ looks fairly scary for *nix users but that's just the public image. I have talked to nearly every level of DSL management in my building and Nothing is changing for Linux users. You can still use the same equip and get the same access while keeping the same address (unlike windows users who go to @msn addys). True you do have to use a Cisco 675 but you have to anyway because of the lacking drivers for the Intel modems in Linux... Everything remains the same... Just Relax!
~Cory
It only makes sense. MSN will probably play a large part in promoting .NET to the public and Qwest owns alot of dark fiber which can't hurt either.
.NET and MSN should all compliment each other quite nicely...
Microsoft needs strong platforms from which to be a "leader" in the Internet. browser, media players,
Too bad, so sad. So I trust that the qwest subscribers will have to click-through the new privacy agreements with MSN. Or will they just be bound to it by the transition gods? Mmmmm. Yummy Passport. Tastes great, but leaves a greasy stain on your soul.
So will the DoJ wait until after MS owns the entire North American ISP business or just the top 10%?
one better than mcleodeight
I can only dream of the days when regular people wake up out of their dreams that what they are being told is good for them, is actually good for them. They public doesn't care about Dimitry, the DMCA, hard drive copy protection, getting switched to MSN, having their government lie to them constantly, being lead by elected followers with records of drug abuse, sexual affairs. Why doesn't the world see what it is doing? Do people really go around believing there is a god? They don't care if IE in integrated with windows, it could be linked into their brain, if the majority tells them it's good for them they would do it.
Well what happens when the majority is wrong?
I can't believe the things people do on a day to day basis, I can't believe that as a race of supposedly sentient beings, we live this way. The drugs, the sex, the violence, the dominating government, the dominating companies. We allow this to happen, we live out our little lives only caring about what is good for us in the short term. Well what is supposedly good for you is not good for you! Most slashdotter's seem to realize this fact because they are sometimes doing something about this messed up system we live in. Most everyone in this world is 'The Man's bitch... They take whatever he want's to shove down their throat. Why can't our world be focused on art and science and the developement of mankind. Why does it have to be the circus that it is.
Personally I am working to help out the world as much as I can in my present state. I am putting myself through college working in a job that produces scientific information that can help our understanding of the universe. My income can is refered to as sub-poverty by the government. But I personally am living quite richly because of my wise choices. I am surrounded by several other students who are being put through college by their parents, who have no job and constantly bitch about their life.
I simply wish I lived in a world full of thinkers and leaders, not a world full of ignorant followers.
If you know of a place, please let me know. Please...
- Microsoft Outlook for *NIX (and developer SDK!)
- New MCMBABCE (MS Mailbox Address Book Extentions Certified Engineer) certification.
- VisualBasic Perl Interpreter for ASP
I feel so embraced and extended...one better than mcleodeight
Yes. To be more accurate, baseband is called so because the "base" signal is transmitted, that is, the signal that's generated is the one that is transmitted. In broadband, there are multiple signals being transmitted - however, each one has been transformed, so as to occupy a unique "band".
I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but this "article" is pure FUD. It incinuates that all of Qwest's DSL customers (of which I am one..) are going to be forced to switch to MSN, which is total BS. To quote from the FAQ itself:
"Under the agreement, MSN will become the preferred Internet Service Provider (ISP) for some Qwest.net Consumer Internet Access customers."
So what if MSN becomes the "preferred ISP"? And beyond that, its only going to apply to some customers, not all.
Qwest is moving its "Qwest.net" customers to MSN. Thats right, there is a difference between Qwest and Qwest.net -- Qwest.net is Qwest's unprofitable, lousy internet provider service. Qwest provides you with a DSL circuit. Who you choose to have as your ISP is totally up to you. You can rely upon Qwest for that additionally, and become a subscriber to "Qwest.net"..You don't have to.
Beyond all this, if you have another ISP that youve chosen to do business with, such as a local ISP in your home town, Qwest does not have the legal authority to render the contract between you and your ISP null and void. Its only "Qwest.net" subscribers that have to "worry" about anything. I dont subscribe to "Qwest.net", so I don't have to worry about a thing. I use DakotaCom here in Tucson as my ISP, therefore it doesn't affect me.
This entire post should be modded down to -1 Troll.
Bowie J. Poag
The fine print of the FAQ states that only win98
and above users can acces msn dsl. I wonder how
this will affect the relatively large userbase that
Qwest has? This has to be very upsetting to alot of
their users in general though.
When will they stop twisting the jargon!? "Narrowband"? The opposite of broadband is baseband, as in 10Base(band)T. Broadband does not mean "Big fat and fast line to the internet", but rather a single data cable that carries more than one type of a signal. Your CATV line is broadband because it can carry network data AND your usual TV channels. DSL (at least ADSL) is broadband because it can carry your phone (voice and low-frequency sound-based data) signals and your network connection. Ethernet is NOT broadband, even though it's faster than DSL, because it can only carry data signals... unless you happen to be one of those that happens to be using a very unusual kind of ethernet that was hardly implemented... I think it was called 10Broad36, and ran over 75 Ohm Coaxial. (aka, coaxial TV cable.)
Here's my personal fave:
"Easy access to great resources from MSN that help make your life better."
Maybe that's why i'm depressed all the time. No MSN.
On the one hand they encourage sites to use non-standard tags VB script etc. so pages don't work properly on non-MS platforms. On the other they're buying the access, again forcing people to migrate to MS products if they want service. Mac, and Linux and other users are stuffed...
... and using linux, or any other PPP capable device on it is not hard... You do not need to use the software at all, the username just needs to be prefixed with MSN/ and you need the, easily accessable DNS server IP's which tech support would give you in a heartbeat.
You should:
s/Quietly/Quickly/so you will have:
QWEST = Quickly We Enrage Slashdot Trolls
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
People buy customers EVERY DAY. Look at the entire ISP market over the last 5 or more years. How do you think big ISPs got to be big ISPs? People didn't join them by the millions (except for maybe AOL), they bought smaller ISPs over and over.
Is it a bad thing? I think not. If you don't like it switch.
Although some people say that people shouldn't use MSN because it's from "The Evil Empire," MSN is actually a very reliable and fast service. I don't hesitate to recommend people to MSN because it seems like they have a very large infrastructure with very little users. On top of that, although you can use the special MSN dialer, you can also log into MSN using a normal dial-up connection (your login because MSN/username or something like that). In addition, MSN is probably one of the only large ISPs that allows you to use a special modem to dial up with two lines in order to double your throughput. They also support ISDN and whatnot. Don't knock it until you try it!
What if the business and politics stories in the paper are just as accurate as the technology stories?
You remind me of the cartoon cat wearing glasses with the bird painted on them so that everywhere he looks, he sees the bird. How hard is it for you to READ the FAQ and notice how it presumes that if you're not running Windows, you're on a Mac? Again, if you had a brain, you'd observe that users are being migrated from a service where all OSen are more-or-less equal to one that is heavily favored in favor of Microsoft, and other operating systems are marginalized or shut out entirely. This is what people don't like: Microsoft is using their leverage to try to make it less and less feasible for people to use other operating systems. This is why there's been this lawsuit by the DOJ and 20 states against Microsoft, in case you haven't noticed. There's my 'careful analysis of the facts', sir. It's the standard Microsoft playbook being run to the letter. My post was factual from start to finish, unlike your posts full of ad hominem attacks that get moderated up thanks to your multiple accounts (how else did your goatse.cx post make it to +4?). Go away, slashdot doesn't need fools like you.
At least mafia-owned pizzarias make excellent pizza. Compare to Bill Gates.
Embraced (by the Iron Maiden) and extended (by the rack).
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Was that link supposed to tell us anything other than that their stock price is about half of what it was a year ago? That's probably true for a bunch of electronics related companies and they aren't all rushing to get bought out by MS.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Define faster. If you mean more bandwidth then no, of course not. If you mean lower pings, well perhaps slightly since the router is just routing rather than doing NAT calculations.
Why are you offering condolences? 40k in GBP is about $56k USD, and since the UK has obscene tax rates, if it is after tax as he says, then he must be making nearly six figures before taxes, if not into six figures. So you are trying to tell me that Iowa State pays better than that? I seriously doubt it. I worked there over 10 years ago, and basically doubled my pay when I went elsewhere. They, like most universities pay poorly. A friend of mine who worked there when I did and is still working up there probably makes less than 1/2 what I do now, dispite the fact that he graduated from ISU with a 3.9something GPA and I never bothered to finish my degree.
As for spelling, I know a whole lot of well paid people in the business who can't spell worth a damn. Yes, it can be annoying, but it doesn't seem to hurt them as much as all the anal retentive english teachers in school told us it would...
Actually, we saw a drastic improvement in performance moving from the expensive Sun boxes to the cheaper Dell servers. I'm not sure if it's the boxes themselves or the fact that IIS serves static content faster than apache. The CGI part isn't performance critical so I'm not bothered if that's slower, but it seems to be just as fast in my preliminary tests.