mm interesting but no. Well not as i think. BTW i didn't check if there's any update of MPLAB and PICSTART at this moment. But i feel they didn't since the last time.

ICD-2 seems to be the one they'll prefer to work with.

Sometimes Microchip are %^%%. PicStart is suppose to be the Universal Pic Programer... YEAH RIGHT

An universal programmer like BkPrecision 844a (or Elnec) is still a smart choice IMHO. A bit more expensive but program much than PIC and it's updated about every month or so. You pay more one time, but i'd never be disapointed about... maybe about the ICSP but do some workaround

Good luck.