Microsoft outage forces US workers to Slack and calls as global services fail

A major Microsoft outage disrupted services globally on Friday, affecting Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, and disrupting operations for businesses and users in multiple countries. While some US office workers welcomed the email blackout and joked about an early weekend, others used Slack, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings to stay connected. The outage also impacted Australian businesses, court live streams, and online classes, with some workers reportedly sent home early on Thursday. Microsoft said its fix attempts were not working as expected and that the issue affected users in any region. Downdetector tracked over 200,000 user reports, with services knocked out in 74 countries and territories.