Microsoft has just resolved today's widespread outage of its online services, Windows Live.

Here's a statement from the company, attributed to Samantha McManus, Windows Live product manager:

"Earlier today, an issue began that has caused some consumers worldwide to experience difficulty logging in to their Windows Live ID accounts. This issue has since been resolved and normal operations have been restored to all customers.

"The issue purely impacted the log-in process for customers and largely did not impact customers who were already logged in. Microsoft working quickly and aggressively to resolve the issue. Our customers have come to expect a high level of service reliability in their experience with Windows Live and we apologize for any inconvenience this particular issue has caused consumers.

"Microsoft customers experienced issues accessing various services that rely on Windows Live ID for authentication including Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Xbox Live. We worked to identify the issue and have restored full normal operation to all of our customers. We do not have a specific number [of customers impacted] to share at this time. There is no danger of data loss or data compromise. It is important to note that the security and privacy of our customers was at no time compromised as a result of this issue."

I've asked for details on the number of users affected and what caused the Live ID system to go down. I'll post them if I get them.