Microsoft became incompetent in IT
Critiques of Microsoft’s account systems and support highlight how automated security checks, opaque recovery flows, and mandatory tools like Authenticator can lock legitimate users out of email, Windows, and even purchased games such as Minecraft. Commenters contrast this with earlier eras of more hands‑on tech support, argue that today’s mega‑scale platforms prioritize cost savings and shareholder returns over reliable customer service, and note that similar problems plague Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon. Some see self‑hosting, owning one’s own domain, or moving to alternative platforms as the only real protection against being arbitrarily cut off from critical data and services.
Title and submission discussion
- Some argue the HN title better reflects the article’s substance than the original, while others point to guidelines to keep original titles unless clearly misleading.
- Disagreement centers on what counts as “editorializing” vs improving a vague original title.
Enterprise success vs consumer frustration
- Several note Microsoft’s revenue and stock keep rising, driven largely by Azure and enterprise bundling (e.g., Teams winning because it’s already paid for).
- Enterprise customers reportedly still get real human contact and proactive calls when things break, unlike consumers and small businesses.
- Others stress layoffs and cost-cutting indicate prioritizing shareholders over product quality or support.
Account lockouts, auth, and broken UX
- Many share experiences of being locked out of Microsoft 365, Authenticator, Outlook, LinkedIn, and Minecraft with circular, dead-end recovery flows.
- Multi-account sign-in with Microsoft 365 on the web is described as effectively broken, forcing people to use private browsing or browser containers.
- Complaints about Windows 11 include ads, intrusive updates, and user-hostile defaults.
Email, spam, AI, and “incompetence”
- Self-hosted email users report Microsoft aggressively spam-filtering non–big-provider mail, calling this “criminally incompetent.”
- Outlook/Teams “AI” search is widely criticized as worse than old filters, ignoring explicit search terms. One commenter objects that this claim is anecdotal and unsubstantiated.
- More broadly, people see AI-based anti-abuse and verification systems as brittle and opaque, with no effective appeal channel.
Historical perspective on Microsoft quality
- Several recall multiple “peaks” (DOS 6.22, Windows 2000/XP/7, Office 97/2000, VB6, SQL Server support) and notably better support in the 80s–2000s, including deep, unscripted troubleshooting.
- Others argue Microsoft has always had serious quality problems; today’s mess is continuity, not a new decline.
Incentives, scale, and industry-wide decay
- Many say the core issue is not IT incompetence but economic incentives: support that reaches a human costs more than a user is worth at massive scale.
- Bureaucracy, outsourced L1 support without real escalation, and “enshittification” are described as industry-wide, with similar horror stories from Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Meta.
- Some conclude the only real defense is owning your own domain/data and avoiding dependence on tech giants where possible.