Changes could be industry specific, as my sites still have the same top rankings as the last 10months. As for the Live search, don't know when it exactly happened, but it was sometime during my holiday, 05sep and 23sep. So it has been like that for quite some time now.
ASK is also known for it's noteriously poor search results. it includes primarily pay for inclusion sites (a retarded idea at best) and thus has a very small database. A few none paid sites get in........eventually
Does ask have a paid submission page? I dont mind paying (as long as appropriate for the levels of traffic) that much.
Stay away from MSN and Hotmail. Most Colleges and Universities block out hotmail because there are waaaaaaaay too many spaming prob's with it. Plus you can never download files you e-mail to yourself. THAT SUCKS!