well, all you fanboys are griping over retarded crap so I'm compiling what I believe to be a a true pros/con list. I've been online with both consoles for about six months. The OP was interested in pros/cons of XBL, and since the only thing that compares is PS2 online, a lot of the cons will be generated from the pros of PS2 online.
PROS:
- Friends List.........undoubtedly the best thing about XBL, being able to tell when your compadres are playing, even if they are playing a different game (as long as it is XBL enabled)
-Voice Chat..........in every game, you are guaranteed to have voice chat (as far as I know, MMORPG's may be different)
-Lag..............Most games don't have much lag, but I don't see much lag on PS2 though, but I haven't done any racers, so who knows.
-One Platform........the games all have the same basic platform in which you find games..PS2 games can vary greatly from game to game.....
-Downloadable Content......this should be higher on the list as it is an awesome feature to extend the longevity of a game. but how long before they charge for every new content?
CONS:
-Host-dependent gaming......If the host drops..... EVERYBODY DROPS..... and that can suck.... Many PS2 games are not host-dependent, ie. if the host drops, you just keep playing. Also, only the host can boot people and sometimes they can leave some real assholes in a game.
-One Platform......Quick Search or OptiMatch. Its a bad system. Why can't you look at every game available? Why aren't there rooms set-up for lobby chatting (obviously only KB chatting). I call SOCOM2 as having a great system. You can look at every game out there, or you can change filters so that you see only games that meet your criteria.
-Cost.......it costs money.
That's all I can think of now. please feel free to provide comments as I am quite sure the list is not comprehensive and is based solely on opinion.