Summary: Hotmail goes awry again and there remains little or no justification for relying on Microsoft for E-mail

SHORTLY after the new year's Hotmail fiasco [1, 2] comes yet another which the Microsoft booster fails to embellish:

A growing number of Hotmail users are unable to access their email accounts.

Complaints from Hotmailers have been piling up in Microsoft's Windows Live support portal since at least January 3.

It's not just the cheapo, freebie version used by millions of Hotmail fans that's in trouble. Those forking out $19.95 a year for Hotmail Plus are also blocked.

People are naturally getting angry, with some unable to access their accounts for up to four days.

The technological Darwinian test ought to be choosing Microsoft for E-mail; those who do deserve to falter. We have already shown that Microsoft needs to bribe officials to choose and impose on others the use of Live@Edu, as last mentioned yesterday in the context of back room deals. Microsoft could never really deal with E-mail reliably (at any level for that matter), so those who choose it for others ought to be seen as suspected (e.g. of being paid by Microsoft because we have leaked documents to show this practice, along with real-world examples).

In slightly different news, Jon Newton from Canada (where the government developed an infatuation with Apple) complains that "Apple pushes [hype]Pad into schools", which helps spread restrictions and caters towards imprisonment of young adults:

One of the reasons the company has survived with its expensive computers and software is because it’s been able to sell to schools around the world.

Get ‘em while they’re young.

Bill Gates admitted exploiting these tactics and right now he is taking over schools -- a subject we'll tackle again in a matter of days. ⬆