Did you get a "you don't have an INBOX yet" message when you tried to sign into Hotmail?

Apparently something went wrong during routine maintenance over at Microsoft Live (Hotmail), which cause tons of users to receive a message that they don't have an inbox yet.

As you might imagine, this was extremely frustrating to Hotmail users:

"When I signed in as usual tonight I got this message:

'You don't have an inbox...yet

Sign up for Windows Live Hotmail and get a free, customizable inbox with lots of storage and great security.

Note: Whether you use Hotmail or not, you can always go to your contact list.'

BULLSHIT! Yesterday I had thousands of emails going back to 2002, and today I 'don't have an inbox...yet'!!!??? Apparently the idiot assholes 'upgrading' windows live lost or erased the only part of my account that I actually used, liked, or cared about; my hotmail. I'm afraid to follow their prompts to 'sign up' because that might start me over new, eliminating ANY chance I might have of recovering my years of correspondence. Goddamn you microsoft!!! First vista and now this. GRRRR!!!" Source: James' Blog

Understanding how frustrating this must have been for James and other Hotmail users,I did a little digging of my own and was able to find the following update on the Microsoft Live Website:

Temporary outage is over: Your inbox is safe

Some of you may have experienced an unusual message when you tried to sign in to Windows Live earlier this (Thursday) evening (PST), a message that said “You don’t have an inbox…yet.”

Rest assured that your inbox is safe!

The incorrect message was sent out, caused by a networking issue that we encountered while doing routine maintenance.

We have corrected the problem and you should be able to access your Hotmail and other Windows Live services again now. We apologize for any inconvenience that was caused by this issue, and we thank you for using Windows Live.

- The Windows Live team

UPDATE, 11:19 PM PST: Some of you are still reporting problems signing in. Our staff is working on getting the sign-in problem fixed as soon as possible. As stated above, if you are seeing a message that you “don’t have an inbox,” the message is incorrect. Your messages are still intact on our servers, and you will have access to them again as soon as this temporary outage is resolved." Source: Windows Live Web Site

The good news is that Hotmail has assured users that their email is saved on their server. However, I really am beginning to wonder how we ever managed without email, and text messages, and tweets, and cell phones, and...