"It always made me wonder how someone is supposed to get their first address... or how someone can live with one address, which should be a perfectly normal thing."
Yeah this was my thought also, although i understand the backup option for recovery, but thats already present with a phone verification.
I actually do have other email addresses, i'm just surprised by the irony of it, especially that there is no workaround, for a tech company powerful like microsoft, making just viewing personal email via their service so unpleasant..