Outlook Down? Microsoft Outlook Faces Outage Amid Google Services Crash

While not as widespread as the earlier Google service disruption, Microsoft’s Outlook email service is currently experiencing difficulties for some users.

Reports from readers, along with information on Microsoft’s service status page, indicate that certain Outlook users are encountering problems signing in and accessing their email through Outlook.com, stemming from an issue within its Active Directory infrastructure.

Microsoft has acknowledged our inquiry, confirming that the disruption is impacting users located in Europe. Their suggested solution is to simply refresh the page – a common troubleshooting step often likened to restarting a device.

A Microsoft representative stated, “We are working to resolve an issue that is intermittently preventing a limited number of European customers from accessing Outlook email.” They added, “Users should be able to gain access by retrying the operation.”

The exact number of affected users remains unclear, but it is not a universal problem. (I was able to log in to my account without issue from England.)

Engineers detailed in a status update that a portion of the infrastructure within their Active Directory (AD) systems appears to be the source of the problem. “We are analyzing the errors being generated to help us confirm this,” they wrote. The status page confirms that other services, including Skype, OneDrive, and Teams, are functioning normally.

Google’s outage was widespread but resolved relatively quickly, lasting approximately one hour overall. In contrast, Microsoft’s issues have been ongoing for at least six hours, and potentially longer based on reports collected by DownDetector. The data from that site shows that over 80% of the reported problems relate to login difficulties.

Microsoft’s Outlook, which integrates its desktop application, web email service, and the older Hotmail platform, has become a primary method for users to access Microsoft’s various online services. It was an early leader in the web-based (and therefore cloud-based) email market, a position it once dominated.

However, the introduction of Google’s Gmail resonated with users who appreciated its speed, streamlined interface, and effective spam filtering, ultimately surpassing its competitor. As of 2019, Outlook had an estimated 400 million users, compared to approximately 1.5 billion Gmail accounts.

Despite this, any service interruption still has a significant impact. Microsoft’s previous widespread outage occurred in September, affecting Outlook, Teams, and Office due to an authentication failure. Interestingly, some speculate that authentication issues are also contributing to the current problems at Google.

Both Google and Microsoft are working to resolve these incidents, but they highlight a crucial concern.

These events emphasize the inherent vulnerability of relying heavily on a small number of proprietary cloud-based networks for our communications, data, and daily lives. When these networks experience downtime, the consequences are increasingly significant, particularly given the growing reliance on virtual interactions due to the current health pandemic.

We have reached out to Microsoft for further comment and will provide updates as more information becomes available.