Well, I’ve been hacking at this space for a month now (my first post was May 12), and I’m finding MSN Spaces to be an adequate tool.  It does have a few minor limitations though (modulo luser error):

1. Images aren’t in-line.  As often my text and images are co-dependent, it would be nice to have the ability to embed a full-size (within limits) image in-line with the text.  Thumbnails at the end of the article are just too limiting.  If I switch to a different blog tool, this missing feature will be the reason.
2. Upload sizes and types are limited.  You can’t upload a large image (like this OneNote screenshot from a previous blog entry).  You can only upload images - uploading a raw OneNote file or XML file needs a different tool.  I understand this is a photo-album tool but it would be convenient not to have to go completely out of MSN Spaces to provide non-image supporting data.  However, MSN provides an automatic "My Web Documents" on MSN Groups for just this purpose.
3. No direct HTML control.  I have had some problems cutting and pasting from other tools (Outlook email, OneNote) and retaining too much formatting information.  I understand the need to prohibit arbitrary HTML though - perhaps a "strip formatting" button would be sufficient (though I’d still love to sticking <IMG> tags to overcome the in-line image problem.)
4. No list of recent posts.  When I visit someone’s blog, it’s nice to see at a glance which recent posts I might be interested in, or haven’t read yet.  I guess I could try using a custom list for this, but the manual maintenance required for a feature that should be simply automatic is dampening my enthusiasm.  I thought I would miss not having a little calendar view as well showing which days have posts, but I’m starting to feel this is more useful for the blogger than for his readers.

I really like the photo transitions in the photo albums, the ability to pick a theme and have it enforced (I’m willing to give up some creative control for that simplicity), and the general high quality of the reader and blogger experience.

All in all I’m finding blogging a fun way to keep in contact with family and friends, to hone my writing skills, and to have a reason to take a random spark of an idea and fan it to a flame by thinking it through in writing.