Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure what the basis for that statement is. You need to have a "Microsoft account" (which used to be Windows Live ID). I'm sure that can also be used to login to their web mail platform, but that seems pretty much the same as Google or Apple or any other provider that uses a unified ID.

I mean, here's the signup page, which pretty clearly lets you provide your own email address or choose to use a new Microsoft one: https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx

Exactly, my Microsoft Xbox Live account is linked to my Gmail account and this hasn't caused any problems.

> How does this not trigger any flags for monopoly abuse at the DoJ?

For starters, Microsoft does not have a monopoly on game consoles.

> why has no one called them on this bullshit?

because you are not required to have a hotmail account. I've signed up for live with my gmail account.