If you insist on using msn, you can use webcam from your mac on msn via Mercury, but its a slow java application with low framerate and quality. Nothing near the quality you'll get from the ichat to aim solution.
Very interesting post. I had no idea that apple had a sales strategy like that - puzzling.
Have you found a solution to your project/visio compatibility? I got Omni Outliner and Omni Graffle with my powermac g5 and I can warmly recommend the latter (haven't really tried outliner yet). I just...