"MS and MSN have tried their darndest online to become anything other than a periferal player, in both ISP and SEARCH and have never managed to be"
Msn portal is currently the # 2 web portal on the planet in terms of traffic generated, only challenged by Yahoo and to some extent AOL. And msn is solidly profitable, and has registered sales increases every single quarter for the past 3 years.
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=483
I don't call that a "peripheral player".
As for Msn ISP, I already stated above that Microsoft should et out of that business.
Its a low profit commodity business, not beneficial to Microsoft's long term strategic interests.
Even AOL, the biggest ISP has been suffering financially for years now.