Microsoft suffering problems with Hotmail service

By Isabelle Chaize

The software giant Microsoft’s Hotmail service, which with approximately 80 million users takes up nearly a quarter of the global webmail market, has been experiencing serious malfunctions.

No details have yet been released about the exact nature of the problem, but Microsoft said that they were aware that some of their customers were experiencing difficulty gaining access to their accounts.

A spokeswoman said ‘We are actively investigating the cause and are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and disruption this may be causing our customers.’

Users are growing increasingly frustrated at being unable to log in to their email accounts, with one blogger saying ‘I’m totally locked out. I’m giving it another day then going to Google. I’ve had enough of this.’

Some of them have been without service for as much as two days.

Microsoft’s main rivals in the webmail market, Yahoo and Google, stand to gain from customer’s annoyance at the fault as they consider transferring their allegience.

Microsoft had earlier said that they had fixed the defect but its reoccurrence hints at a more serious problem.