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Topic: Enterprise Software

Outlook.com outage leaves users locked out of accounts

Summary: Numerous users of the online email service Outlook.com were locked out of their accounts on Monday after a service outage.

Nick Heath

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Numerous users of Outlook.com were unable to access emails via the service on Monday after they were locked out of their accounts.

Outlook error
An error message appeared to some users of Outlook/Hotmail.

The problem left certain users unable to log onto the online email service via desktop or mobile from at least 10am until at least 5pm GMT. There are also reports of sluggish loading on the Outlook.com site from those able to log into the service.

Microsoft confirmed there is a problem with Outlook.com via its Microsoft Support Twitter account, which at about 2pm GMT posted "Hotmail/Outlook services are down and we are currently looking into the issue". The account posted a message saying Microsoft is "continuing to investigate" the problem at about 4.20pm today.

However Microsoft had not responded to a request for comment about the outage and was yet to acknowledge the problem on its Outlook.com service status page at the time of publication.

There are reports that the problems are only affecting Outlook.com users who upgraded from Hotmail.

While the cause remains unconfirmed Microsoft last week announced it is to closing Hotmail and migrating the hundreds of millions of people still using the service to Outlook.com.

Topics: Enterprise Software, Microsoft, Outage

About

Nick Heath is chief reporter for TechRepublic UK. He writes about the technology that IT-decision makers need to know about, and the latest happenings in the European tech scene.

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85 comments
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  • another BSOD

    (blue sky of death). Why can't MS just stay with what they have, always changing everything all the time and causing problems. What was wrong with hotmail? Who knows when outlook.com might become 'bing mail' or something.
    DrWong
    Reply 8 Votes

    • RE: another BSOD

      Because if we behaved the way you suggest, we'd still be using punched cards, paper tape, and 5 1/4" floppy disks...
      jquinnjr
      Reply 14 Votes

      • RE: another BSOD

        Personally, I'd prefer the 8" floppies, hard sectored.....LOL
        michael_irick@...
        Reply 4 Votes

        • Data Storage and Shipment

          Remember good old days! When fastest way to get large groups of Military Secure data from WashDC to CincPAC in Hawaii was to give humgous large rolls of Mag Tape to courier and have him/her hand deliver. How many years after 1975 did it take for non-manual automated systems to deliver that much information, securely, un-hackable- to Hawaii? Ahhh, 2013 minus 1975, lets see -- that's 38 years and we're still trying to replace slow but secure with semi-fast but who knows how secure :-)
          c4791p@...
          Reply 3 Votes

          • RE: another BSOD

            Yeah, I remember the good old days, and I personally long for them. At least when there was a bit of lag time between the creation of a news event and the delivery of the news to the general public, there was a possibility of intervention in case of fraudulent activity. How about market flash crashes caused by instantaneous trading by banks. How about thousands of people having to cancel and reissue their credit or ATM cards because of some instant transfer to an unauthorized receiver of such information because of a "glitch" or because of someone accidentally pushing one button too many?
            smoqui2008
            Reply 3 Votes

          • data transport

            And yet, nothing beats the transmission capacity of an Boeing 747 full of DVDs..
            Ok, that would be 1TB SSDs today. :)
            danbi
            Reply 2 Votes

        • RE: another BSOD

          Or calling down to have four mag tapes loaded... and getting a blank green screen and a flashing cursor...only then having to reload multiple trays of punch cards??? Not even a blue screen then!
          fybcdave
          Reply Vote

      • "Upgrade??"

        jquinnjr, you've sort of missed the point. No one is arguing against real progress (or FOR punched cards, paper tapes or floppy disks) ... but this forced change (for no apparent reason) from hotmail.com to outlook.com is offering absolutely no real benefit to the Hotmail users who were perfectly happy with what they had.

        In fact, there's a whole boatload of so-called "upgrades" that are constantly being foisted on us for no reason I can detect (other than generating more revenue for the suppliers, of course), that do nothing but create problems for us.

        Here's a very simple concept that techies somehow find it very difficult to understand:

        If a piece of technology (software or whatever) is already doing 100% of what we need it to do, there is ABSOLUTELY NO POSSIBILITY that it can be "upgraded"!. (THINK about it if you don't understand why not.)

        Changed, yes ... "modernized", why not? ... but "UPgraded"?? No way in heck!!
        johnvin9
        Reply 6 Votes

        • Define upgrade?

          The thing that many seem to fail to recognize (or deliberately disregard) is the fact that Outlook.com is an interface change (and a poor one at that) and not an upgrade. A little over a year ago, I migrated OFF of Yahoo Mail because of their atrocious service and response to security problems. I chose Hotmail because it offered numerous features, including a form of Exchange, and many of these were features that Yahoo wants to charge for. Yes, Gmail offers these as well, but I really dislike the interface and the way that it works. When Outlook.com was announced, all of the "features" they promoted were nothing new - they were features I already had. I didn't understand what all of the fuss was about.

          I have 3 accounts with them, and only one has been forced to Outlook, giving me a chance to use it. The new interface is so clean it is actually harder to find what you are looking for. I like the old interface and will be sorry to see it go.
          pky254
          Reply 4 Votes

        • Sorry but

          it's not just Microsoft that is constantly making changes. Every tech giant does this and they do it to align their products with the focus of their current agenda. The new Outlook.com is great. I have Hotmail too and I don't mind that I have to move over to Outllook at some point. I like the new UI and it works well for mouse and touch which is one of the reasons they are doing the change.
          Rob.sharp
          Reply Vote

      • Change for the sake of change

        Don't be silly, jquinnjr. There's change resulting from serious improvement which most people welcome and there's change for the sake of change, largely to get people to buy "the latest" - fashion is the classic example of the latter, with Microsoft coming close. I'm one of the many hotmail account holders who upgraded by choice to Outlook.com as I had been informed it would be compulsory later this year anyway. The only changes I've noticed are a slightly different look to the Hotmail Inbox with no obvious improvements and one definite step backwards (no "return to messages" option from an open email) and total loss of service the day after I "upgraded". I'm not impressed and I certainly expect a statement/apology from Microsoft in the near future.
        JohnOfStony
        Reply 2 Votes

      • Times were better!

        If we had behaved as the way he suggested, things might actually work out of the package, instead of relying on firmware updates and patches to fix such flawed hardware and software that they market today. Imagine, repairing hardware that actually had long and useful lifespans, instead of throwing everything into salvage yards or recycling what could still be productive. Oh how the times have changed and how people have been conditioned to accept mediocrity where once quality used to be what mattered.
        partman1969@...
        Reply 1 Vote

    • Because they are too busy

      telling everyone not to get scroogled.
      coastin
      Reply 5 Votes

      • So you believe that Google is involved in this some way?

        In retaliation for MS showing people the truth about Google?
        William Farrel
        Reply 3 Votes

        • If you rely on the cloud, you're asking for trouble...

          The problem with the cloud is that sometimes you can't get to it. Internet connections go down, or MS sites have expired certificates. Sooner or later, you're going to need something that just isn't available at that moment. Use the cloud for backups, but mission critical data needs to be within reach, rain or shine.
          WhatsamattaU
          Reply 9 Votes

          • Servers for the win?

            I personally haven't had much problems using servers.
            Jabe124
            Reply Vote

          • I agree. I use the cloud, as backup.

            It's a place I use to transfer files between devices, but it's not the place I store files.
            William Farrel
            Reply 4 Votes

          • Get a Grip

            Get a grip people. I've been with Outlook.com since it was first introduced. This is the first time in my memory or knowledge that Outlook service has been down. The nature of the beast, this is going to occasionally happen. It's happened to Google, Yahoo, probably your ISP with e-mail has been down at one time or the other. People here are acting like this is a weekly occurrence and it is not. And it's not a problem unique to Microsoft. So get a grip on reality and move on. Outlook.com so far proves it's as safe as any other e-mail service.
            jrbales@...
            Reply Vote

        • could be

          Considering who backs Google, very much possible.

          If this is true however, it means Microsoft has attempted to enter a game that is bigger than them and they don't even know the rules. Might be about time to order more popcorn.
          danbi
          Reply 3 Votes

          • LOL! Oh, that was one of your best!

            "If this is true however, it means Microsoft has attempted to enter a game that is bigger than them and they don't even know the rules."

            I hope you don't believe that. If you honestly do, then I'm shocked that people as
            nieve as you still exist in today's world. "Microsoft has attempted to enter a game that is bigger than them"? LOL!

            I wouldn't even say that of Google, and they have a worse track record then MS when it comes to online offerings, and uptime.
            William Farrel
            Reply 5 Votes
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