Big tech is here to let us down

When I woke up this morning I thought about writing about the ongoing drama surrounding Nvidia and its morally and ethically corrupt leader. But, then I quickly saw the news about Microsoft Outlook going down, and with it Teams and Copilot.

I soon saw many employees celebrating what effectively became a "snow day for adults" as they literally couldn't do their jobs. Then I started seeing various businesses, ranging from small to medium, saying that their normal support services are unsurprisingly not working and instead to contact them via social media. Except, it's not just businesses that are impacted by Microsoft's incompetence. Even if this is some legitimate accident (and not a more likely instance of someone vibecoding their way via Copilot), when a company like Microsoft fires tens of thousands of employees, including many engineers, then these problems are not only more likely, but also more difficult to quickly fix. The fact that this has actually been an issue across two separate days is pathetic for a company like Microsoft.

As beyond businesses impacted, all sorts of other entities have been impacted. Various forms of educational institutions from schools to universities as well as the courts! I wouldn't be surprised if healthcare has been impacted as well.

Now, are Microsoft going to offer any compensation for either lost business or additional accrued costs? I highly doubt it, even though it is literally their fault and they do still have the cash reserves, despite increasingly wasting it on loss-making AI adventures.

This is a reminder of how indebted the Global North has become to Microsoft and its enshittified services. If most (but thankfully not all) businesses and institutions are deep into Microsoft systems, then when Microsoft inevitably messes up again, large swathes of organisations will not be able to function properly. Yes, it might be good for the individual worker in a generic office role, but for keyworker type organisations this can have really damaging implications. Many European state institutions have already started the move away from Microsoft to open source alternatives. Largely to not be at the mercy of an inconsistent United States of America, but also for times like this. As when Microsoft services go down, you cannot fix it! You have to wait for Microsoft to find a competent employee who wasn't let go to try and fix what was broken by some inept leftover who was deluded enough to think that Copilot can do everything.

I still want to talk about the issues of the impact of other US company Nvidia and the implications it has around the world. But that can wait for another day. Plus, who knows if another affairs comes out (we're currently at three).