EL PASO, Tx., November 13, 2026: Not getting emails? Are you receiving less emails than usual? You’re not alone, millions across the globe, businesses and people alike are learning what it means to rely on what engineers have long called a “single-point” of failure. Engineers look for single points of failure (SPOF) when designing things, like buildings, bridges and software. A single point of failure is when one component fails, and the failure brings down an entire system.
When it comes to computers, a server is usually a single point of failure in that when it goes down it affects the business at many levels, for example cash registers cannot complete sales.
But in an increasingly subscription-based ecosystem where email, web services, and other online software are all served from one provider, the provider becomes the single point of failure, something millions are experiencing today with the lack of email or Teams meetings that they have come to depend on.
Since around 9:00am yesterday, Microsoft services like Outlook (Hotmail/MSN/Hotmail/Others), OneDrive and Teams, among other services have been inaccessible to many users. The Microsoft failure has affected ambulance services, school and police forces across the globe.
As of this morning, Microsoft is still struggling to fix the problem that began yesterday. Microsoft has said the failure is technical and not the result of “malicious activity.”
The disruption has affected jails in Colorado with inmates unable to bond out because Outlook is not working…