Microsoft

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Microsoft Says Copilot Is a New OS. So…What Happened to Windows?

As Microsoft pushes Copilot beyond a traditional Windows feature, the company's AI strategy is getting bigger—and its vision for Windows is getting murkier.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-says-copilot-is-a-new-os-sowhat-happened-to-windows?

[phkrause]

Is Microsoft Leaving Regular PC Users Behind?

Between cloud storage cuts and features aimed at power users, I'm not so sure Windows is still made for average consumers.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/is-microsoft-leaving-regular-pc-users-behind?

[phkrause]

Microsoft outage shows the risks of relying on a single technology provider for essential services

A global Microsoft outage this week disrupted email and other workplace tools, plunging business chatter and everyday services into disarray worldwide and highlighting the risks of depending on one of just a few major providers of essential technology.

https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-outage-outlook-email-365-status-down-d92547a821930290db2964388016979a?

Microsoft’s global meltdown

Pedestrians pass a Microsoft office building in New York City. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

A massive Microsoft outage that began Thursday around noon ET has left millions worldwide without access to their email and other essentials of modern office life. Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft services have been disrupted, though traffic is “being gradually restored,” the company said today.

The fallout has affected banks, governments, and courts across multiple countries, as well as airlines. In the US, city governments nationwide reported major email disruptions, while some businesses couldn’t collect payments because they were unable to print invoices.

So how did this happen? Ironically, it appears to have started with a software update intended to make Microsoft’s services better. Instead, the rollout went awry, setting off a cascade of disruptions. Microsoft said in a service update that it is working urgently to stabilize its servers and restore normal operations. The good news, relatively speaking, is that Microsoft says there’s no evidence of a cyberattack.

+ Live updates: Where things stand

+ Read more: Access to Outlook, Teams and other tools affected

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👩‍💻 Outlook crawls back to life

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Microsoft says it's making progress in bringing its popular workplace software back online as a global outage reaches its second day. The outage, which has affected Outlook, Teams and AI assistant Copilot, has left millions of people, institutions and businesses worldwide without access to their email and other tools. 📧 Microsoft said today: "We're seeing encouraging recovery progress, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected Microsoft 365 infrastructure." The company added that users may have "intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery as mitigation progresses across the remaining affected infrastructure." 👾 The company hasn't fully explained the outage, but says there's no indication it was caused by malicious activity. Get the latest.