Outage hits Windows Live Hotmail, Messenger users

Windows Live users are reporting on February 26 that they are unable to access Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, two of Microsoft's key consumer Internet services. Microsoft's MSN.com portal also is extremely slow to load. A number of users on Microsoft's Channel 9 Web site report having been affected by the outage. According to one report, the Microsoft Live outage is affecting customers all across the East Coast. I am an East Coast user and have been unable to access Hotmail or Live Messenger for the past two hours. I asked Microsoft for an update on what is happening. Officials said an update would be forthcoming. Here's the "holding statement" I just got from a company spokeswoman: "We...