Microsoft apologizes as global outage affecting Outlook and other services eases

Microsoft apologized on Saturday as a global outage affecting its platforms, including Outlook, began to ease, attributing the connectivity errors to elevated load on part of its infrastructure. U.S. cities including Jacksonville, Austin, and Dallas reported gradual recovery of government email and online services, with Arapahoe County's bond payment system restored. Microsoft stated the underlying issue was addressed and recovery efforts were underway. Japanese companies and government offices reportedly resorted to fax machines and telephone lines during the disruption, highlighting risks of heavy reliance on a single cloud provider. Microsoft also said the FAA's nationwide ground stop was unrelated to its services.