The Slate link on MSN.com's web page has been replaced by a link entitled Shopping.

What do you think makes more money for MSN, Slate or Shopping?

There's your answer

to Slate on its masthead? Originally, Slate was a Microsoft e-zine. Then Slate was sold to the Washington Post, but the magazine and the Frays continued to run on Microsoft's servers and software. Then Microsoft changed the damned Passport scheme, making signing in about impossible and causing all kinds of headaches for Slate's techies. So, Slate went to Cisco for new software and, presumably, space on Cisco's servers. Thus, the link between and Microsoft was severed last June, when the new system went up.

All in all, I like the new system better than the old, although the change caused some favorite posters to kiss off the Frays.

Maybe it was a contractual deal, that MSN had to keep putting up that link to Slate after the buy-out? Or perhaps they are just alternating links. Imho, MSN is getting far, far too silly in the links provided on the various email sites they control and far too commercial as well.