I'm glad I'm not working today at MSN Communities. Man are forum managers livid.
They hate the new look.
They hate the fact that the site was down for 25 hours Saturday and Sunday.
They hate the new “what's new” page (that you can't remove or move).
They hate the new features.
… Microsoft has screwed up their upgrade process beyond belief.
First, they should have notified all forum managers via email BEFORE shutting down the servers for 25 hours. I didn't know about the changes in advance and that really sucks. (I run several MSN Communities with a combined audience of more than 15,000 members).
Also, their changes should be a warning sign for anyone who is excited by Microsoft's HailStorm strategy. When Microsoft wants to upgrade you, it will, and you'll have no choice (and probably no warning) in the matter.
Sure, MSN's stuff is pretty cool. It's free. For the most part it works better than a site that I could develop. And it's easy to manage. But, those advantages come with costs. Not financial ones, mind you, but you really aren't in charge of your site and there's nothing you can do when the owners want to change your stuff.
Be warned and have a good day!