Live.com e-mail addresses up for grabs

The wait for Microsoft's Live.com e-mail addresses is over.

Microsoft is now taking sign-ups (or at least it was a few minutes ago) at get.live.com. The company released the final version of Windows Live Hotmail a little while back, but has held off on releasing the Live.com domain for a while, though some folks did manage to snag a few addresses before now.

What worked for me was going to that Web site (make sure you are logged out of Windows Live), clicking Hotmail, and then signing up. Some people in the newsroom have reported getting an error message when trying to sign up the way I did; Microsoft says on the site that it is "working to fix a temporary problem with our sign-up service."

I just grabbed BeyondBinary and InaFried, but I'm sure all my readers are far more creative. Drop me a note at one of my new addresses and let me know what clever things you snagged.

[MyRightEye]

No offense Ina

But are you a guy or a girl??

[terminalblue]

LOAL

i have been wondering that since this blog started popping up on my RSS. i wasnt gonna ask tho.
WIN

[Ina Fried]

Check out my first blog post

Should answer all your questions.

-Ina

[MyRightEye]

Whoa

OK, if there's not a straight answer, I'd rather not, thanks!

[Dachi]

Was not expecting that

You can find the first blog entry here: http://www.news.com/8300-13860_3-56-2.htm

"Beyond Binary is also a not-so-subtle reference to my gender. For those who don't know, I spent my first four years at CNET working as a male before transitioning to female in June 2003. ..."

I am not easily surprised.

[MaLvaDo39]

Shudder Microsoft

I got @mac.com and @gmail.com

It's a wonderful world without Microsoft!!!

[dishevel]

Another lousy Microsoft experience

In typical M$ fashion, you have to download and install software just to attempt to set up an email account. When I ran the installer it went from "Checking your computer for Windows Live programs. This may take a few minutes" to "Sorry, this is taking a little longer than expected. Please bear with us just a few more minutes." I waited at least 15 minutes, but eventually just gave up. Pathetic...

[wschaik]

don't install

you're wrong, by hovering your mouse over the hotmail item on the left and then clicking "more" on the right, you can sign up without any downloads

sorry, all the good names were taken while you were downloading :-)

[vedluap]

live.com or windowslive.com

I tried signing up using Ina's suggestion. The only options for the domain name were 'hotmail.com' and 'windowslive.com'. No sign of 'live.com'. Is this what others have experienced. Ina said she managed to get a 'live.com' address. I wonder if this is restricted to users in the US only.