Linux programmer plays Good Samaritan to Microsoft
A lone Linux programmer is responsible for helping giant Microsoft recover from a domain registration snafu that partially paralyzed its Hotmail e-mail network during the Christmas holiday.
Microsoft has confirmed that the service was temporarily unavailable because of the company's failure to pay a $35 registration fee for the Passport.com domain name.
The e-mail service was rescued by programmer Michael Chaney, who covered the payment with his personal credit card.
Within hours, Hotmail was back online.
A product manager for Microsoft's MSN online service said the company is "profusely grateful" to Chaney, and it has offered to repay the $35.
As many as half of Hotmail's 52 million active users may have been affected by the glitch.
The full story is posted at www.news.com .
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