This sounds a lot like the issues I had a little over a year ago. Most of the issues didn't seem to be related to Azure itself, but instead to the logging in and account management experience. It's a shame, login should be a solved issue at this point, but very few people get it right.
I don't want yet another email address to use a service, Flickr having required a Yahoo.com email address is a prime example, as is Azure.
Microsoft accounts work with any email. Mine has always been my Gmail address, works fine. I think the reason people think you need an outlook or hotmail address is because of the example prompt text on account sign up.
I don't want yet another email address to use a service, Flickr having required a Yahoo.com email address is a prime example, as is Azure.