Large-scale outages in Microsoft 365 services, which disrupted corporate email and work tools around the world, forced companies and local governments in Japan to remember the technology of the 1980s and 1990s - fax machines.
Large-scale outages in Microsoft 365 services, which disrupted corporate email and work tools around the world, forced companies and local governments in Japan to remember the technology of the 1980s and 1990s - fax machines.
Despite the gradual restoration of some cloud services, on Friday, November 13, Japanese businesses began to massively use faxes and other alternative communication channels to transmit documents and confirm details of deals, Dexerto reports . The problems have also affected government agencies: some departments have officially asked citizens and partners to contact them by phone or fax while email remains unavailable.
In the Japanese segment of social networks, users actively praise "old-school" analog equipment for its reliability in critical situations.
"It's incredible that faxes are saving the day again... It reminded me of how they were brought back into the spotlight after the recent cyberattack. When you're in trouble, you can always rely on analog technology," wrote one user on the X social network.
Other employees note that even if their company was not directly affected by the Outlook outage, communication with partners was blocked.
"We used to exchange photos of documents on messengers, but in the end, even in our time, fax turned out to be simply invincible," another commentator shared his experience.
Many users also emphasized that preserving analog communications is vital in case of emergencies or natural disasters — just as regular street payphones become the only way to communicate when the mobile network fails.
