Re: [Plug] MSIE for UNIX/other client that can do SPA

["Bill Jonas" <Bill_Jonas@msn.com>]

> ACK! PHHT! NO! NO! Return it ! Return it!  See, you didn't just get $400
> off your computer, NO! You paid the same price for it, and $100 a year for
> internet access! (at approx $20 a month, 12 months a year, 3 years the
> access costs approx $720)

Right.  Actually, my computer was "free" (Stop right there, I know what
you're about to say. :) ).  I realized the implications when I signed up,
but I thought, "Well, I'll be paying ~$20.00/month anyway for Internet
access, so why not get something out of the deal?"  That was when I thought
that cable access was really, really expensive.  :-/.

> There is no reason that you shouldn't be able to use Netscape.. although
> it would both be an incredibly smart move and an incredibly dumb move on
> their part to make it so that you can't use Netscape on MSN.  Just what
> 'failed'?  [okay, so this discussion is really off-topic for the list.]

Beg your pardon.  *Navigator* works fine.  I can browse the web, do whatever
I want as far as that goes.  My later statement, "...if I have to do email
and Internet from Windows" was misleading (it was late, I wasn't thinking
quite clearly).  I can web surf just fine.  In fact, MS doesn't even provide
their own access.  They buy it from UUNet and resell it.  The MSN dialer
adds a "MSN/" to the front of your username.  (I found a doc the web about
how to do this.  I couldn't find it again online, although I have a copy
saved.)

What I *cannot* do, however, is read mail and news.

> Well I'm not too familiar with this, but I don't think that this is any
> sort of proprietary protocol.  I would guess you could use Eudora, or any
> other SMTP mail agent.

Not to be contrary, but I couldn't find any options for SPA in
Communicator's mail-and-news program.  The HOWTO that I have (I don't know
if it's an official HOWTO, but that's what I'm calling it  :)  ) says:

 2.6 The End

  Well, you should be able to enjoy most of your MSN account now. You
  can't get your email yet because thats hidden behind Microsoft's SPA.
  You can get computingcentral news groups from:
  publicnews.msn.com or msnnews.msn.com
  You can also chat on:
  publicchat.msn.com
  Even though you can't read email, there is no reason you can't send
  it.  Just configure your favorite email client to send email through:
  smtp.email.msn.com

The servers listed in OE for my MSN account are pop3.email.msn.com for
incoming and secure.smtp.email.msn.com for outgoing.

> Now here for the good news:  I seriously doubt that you are limited to
> windows when using MSN -- what about their mac subscribers, etc? MSN is
> only an ISP. They want your money, pure and simple, and you could probably
> connect with just about anything.   What you need to look into is the
> login... what authentication protocol they use, etc.. (CHAP, PAP, etc..)

I believe that their authentication protocol is CHAT.  (I'm not sure on
this; that's the impression I get from the doc I found.  It has a ppp-on
script, the first line being #!/bin/sh and the second line being
/usr/sbin/pppd connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/ppp/chat-script'.  Am I
correct in my assumption?)  As far as Mac support, haven't they ported IE
and OE to the Mac platform?

> Now, it WILL most likely work, however, they most likely won't support it
> (answer questions on the tech support hotline, etc).  All you have to do
> now is figure out your connection details, and get yourself that
> hard-modem.

Eager to try it.

Bill




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