Hotmail, the first mass email service and provided by Microsoft, was reported down. "Hotmail service unavailable" blog posts sprang up all over the Internet. But now, "Hotmail down" and "Hotmail service unavailable" must be replaced by "Hotmail up" and "Hotmail service available".
According to Business Week, the massive problems started in the "Windows Live ID service" used to sign in customers. It's also used by XBox customers for online game accounts. More than 460 users Worldwide have accounts, or a population larger than America as a whole.
The problems have been fixed and Microsoft apologizes for them. But really, one should have multiple email accounts they can use rather than just one. And using the Open ID system's really a plus as well. Windows Live ID is also an Open ID supporter.
I attempted to log in to Hotmail twice this morning (2/16) and on both occasions a different user's account was opened rather than my own account. On the second attempt I tried to open up one of the emails and found that the content of the email was visible to me. I logged out of the account and was unable to log in at all on the third attempt. My concern now is that my account, as well as many others, may have been compromised too and that emails containing personally identifiable information (PII) may have been accessed by third parties.
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