Some reports have recently come to my attention about this wonderful new box--MSNTV2-- that MSN has designed for those of us who don't want to go through the hassles of owning and working with computers. And they seem to have come up with a version of a baby computer that runs on Internet Explorer 6, just like the larger and more versatile personal computers do! Instead of a monitor, it plugs into a TV set, just like our Classic and Plus MSNTV boxes do. However, apparently this new box is not a bigger and better MSN TV set-top box. It's a totally different critter. But reports sometimes give conflicting info:

1. If switching from the current Classic and Plus MSNTV service, will we be able to take our "stuff," favs, etc, with us? Definitely NOT. This will be a brand new account.



2. Does the MSNTV2 support html sigs? Apparently not



3. Will we still have access to Page Builder? NO



4. What about our present email addresses? Old MSNTV addresses won't work for this new account. New address will be: UserName@msn.com



5. Will we still be able to go to our fav MSNTV newsgroups? NO or perhaps. Reports are conflicting.



6. Will we still be able to use the WebTV-only html codes that create gradcolors, transparency, audioscopes, special font effects? NO! Since this new box runs on I.E. 6, it will not "see" any WebTV-only effects. (Altho one person did claim that she could still see gradcolors!)



7. What are the new features that we'll like?
   
   
   • A mouse, a remote control, and a keyboard
   
   
   
   • Faster Internet surfing
   
   
   
   • Little or no problems with secure sites, such as online banking and newspapers
   
   
   
   • It will open PDF files
   
   
   
   • It can use a DSL hook up, if we have this, instead of a normal telephone line
   
   
   
   • It has the capacity for 11 usernames and 11 email accounts! (Just think of all that new spam!)
   
   
   
   • MSN is offeing a 2-month free service to new MSNTV2 customers. Apparently this offer is good until Jan, 2005.
   
   
   
   • We will be able to use our own images as screensavers, if we wish.
   
   
   
   • There's also an mp2 player that still doesn't allow the whole piece to play through.
   
   
   
   • The new box will work for many but not all) printers, via a USB port
   
   
   
   • This new box will use a Compact Flash card (64 megabytes provided) as its memory. We might have to buy other CF cards, if we don't want to lose the stuff we have stored on this first one--and they are not cheap
   
   
   
   • Official release date is Oct 1. But not all stores will have them by then.

A final word, this from Paul Ding, whom many of you know or have heard of his reputation for being very helpful and knowledgable:

From: (Paul Ding)
The new MSN TV 2 service is built from the ground up using Windows.

There's the answer everybody's been looking for.

The community websites and pagebuilder run on Sun servers, running Solaris.

The existing newsgroups run on Sun servers, running Solaris.

And now for the "official" word, which still leaves us dyed-in-the-wool webbys, devoted to our gradcolors and audioscopes, wondering what will MSN do with our present MSN TV service. Note the key words: "more expensive to run," "proprietary browser":

New Microsoft set-top box ready to roll
Published: September 24, 2004, 1:53 PM PDT
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

http://news.com.com/New+Microsoft+set-top+box+ready+to+roll/2100-1041_3-5381459.html

One more source of information, this is a list of questions and answers that seems pretty thorough:

BOTTOM LINE: Before deciding to buy one of these new units to replace your present Classic or Plus, better check out EVERYTHING that you consider important to retain! The only thing "for sure" is that you "can't take it (MSN TV) with you."