>1) Is this an annual price, or an "initiation fee" with substantially lower rate once enrolled?

Annual... an lower renewal, but not 'substanstial' from what I have heard.

>2) Is this even an annual thing, or does the price mean for a 'lifetime' subscription?

As above.. it is a yearly subscription, you have to renew every year.

>3) It suggests that I get almost the whole MS universe by subscribing, but then I read ". . . you get *access* to the latest products and information, including a complete set of MS operating systems and BackOffice Server components, MS Office Developers Edition. . .".

If you check out http://www.microsoft.com/msdn/join/subdetails.htm#Universal
It tells you what you get. Also, keep in mind this is a sigle user license... The back office come with 10 connection version which are usable only in a testing/development setting.

>- does this mean I get the full standard retail packages of each, or does oit mean that I can I can go shoewhere and 'review' them, or what does it mean????

You actually get the CD's of all the retail releases and several preview releases also. You don't get any printed doc.

>Thanks in advance,

Sure... let me know if you have any other questions.

BOb