Can’t get into your Hotmail email? Not getting that expected email from a Hotmail user? That’s because the Hotmail servers are down, again.

Millions of PCs that were sold as being “Windows Vista Capable” aren’t, according to a lawsuit filed this week against Microsoft. The Windows Vista lawsuit, on behalf of an as yet undetermined number of consumers who purchased PCs in the past year with the expectation that they would be able to run all of the Windows Vista features, alleges that Microsoft knowningly and intentionally mislead consumers by allowing PC manufacturers to label PCs on the market as “Windows Vista Capable” when that meant only that the PC hardware would be able to run Vista Basic, and would not be able to run all the features that everyone is anticipating from Vista.

Recently I started getting invitations to join Flixster from complete strangers. Obviously, this was spam, but why were these complete strangers sending it to me? And why were they always from AOL and Hotmail? Now people are asking – is Flixstr accessing your AOL and Hotmail contacts list and spamming them in your name?

Microsoft joined the Internet Video sites today with its launch of Microsoft Soapbox. The new free Internet video site, offering free Internet video clips contributed by users, like YouTube and YouTube owner Google’s Google Video, hopes to capture YouTube viewers’ hearts and allegiance. On first glance, Microsoft Soapbox looks like YouTube and Google Video in the ways that you would expect. But is Microsoft Soapbox similar to YouTube enough to really be a contender? And is “similar to YouTube” enough, or does it need to be far better?

Microsoft has issued alerts and updates this week for both Windows Media Player and Outlook Express, explaining that both are open to serious attack, which could render a user’s computer under the control from someone out on the Internet. The Outlook Express update affects Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 and 6, and the Windows Media Player issue affects both Windows Media Format Series Runtime, and Windows Media Player 6.4 (and even affects people running later versions of Windows Media Player such as Windows Media Player 11).

Microsoft has advised that they are working on investigating a vulnerability in Word for Windows and Mac which allows attackers to gain access to a user’s home computer. All of the following version of Word are at risk: Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Word 2004 v. X for Mac, as well as Microsoft Works 2004, 2005, and 2006.

If you are running Windows, and are connected to the Internet, chances are you have started receiving messages from your Windows system telling you that IE7 – Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 – is ready for you to download and install, to upgrade whatever version of IE you are currently using. So, should you download and install IE7? There have already been many people who have regretted installing IE7.

If you’ve been wondering about the Microsoft Zune MP3 music player, and in particular if you have been wondering how much it will cost and where you can buy it, wonder no more. Because Wal-mart accidentally (or not?) leaked that information earlier this week.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through its United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has warned all Americans running Windows to make haste to apply the MS06-040 patch which was issued by Microsoft this week. The MS06-040 patch corrects a flaw which makes computers running Windows particularly vulnerable.

Microsoft this week announced the launch of their Windows Live Spaces service. According to Microsoft, the Windows Live Spaces service offers “social networking features designed to help users discover and connect with friends through their trusted contacts and allows customers to personalize their Windows Live Spaces with gadgets.” In other words, a direct run-up against MySpace. But they do have the Windows Live Gadgets – can MySpace gadgets be far behind?

You might have heard the word “Zune” recently in the news, or near the office water cooler. Zune is the codename, now nearly certainly confirmed as the actual name, for what some are dubbing “the iPod killer”: Microsoft’s new Zune MP3 player. In addition to the Zune music player, of course, Microsoft has their own iZune music store to go with it. Ok, just kidding, it’s not really called “iZune”, it’s called “Urge”.

A security hole has hit Microsoft Excel, of all programs. We’re used to security holes in our browsers, our instant messenger programs, and even,sometimes, Word. But in our spreadsheet program? In Excel??

Robert Scoble, Microsoft’s chief blogger, is leaving Microsoft to join start-up PodTech.net, amid much speculation as to why. Did Microsoft not treat him well? “No!” says Scoble, emphatically.

The Microsoft patches for May, 2006 are out, including two that affect Windows XP, and one that affects Exchange.

Google is complaining loudly that Microsoft has made their own search engine, MSN Search, the default search engine for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) – well they would now, wouldn’t they? This despite the fact that Google is the default search engine for Firefox, Safari and Opera.