MSN Messenger fails to deliver

A large number of users of Microsoft's MSN Messenger have experienced problems with the service this week.

Some have not been able to log in, while others have reported disappearing buddy lists.

Microsoft has blamed the glitches on a hardware failure and maintains that, for users around the world, it should soon be business as usual.

However, some MSN Messenger users have expressed their displeasure with the way Microsoft has tackled the hiccup.

One silicon.com reader, Craig Hillyard, said via email: "All day yesterday [Wednesday], I couldn't connect to the messenger service, and today, when I have managed to connect, all my personalised settings have disappeared, including a nicely built up contact list.

"There is never any announcement of problems and Microsoft haven't responded to my emails about this yet."

Attention has now turned to the role Microsoft's Passport authentication technology may or may not have played in the downtime.