LibreOffice developer Mike Kagansky, who has previously criticized Microsoft's policies on closed formats and incompatibility with open source software, suddenly lost access to his Hotmail account. The account was blocked without explanation, and attempts to appeal failed due to absurd errors in the system.
LibreOffice developer Mike Kagansky, who has previously criticized Microsoft's policies on closed formats and incompatibility with open source software, suddenly lost access to his Hotmail account. The account was blocked without explanation, and attempts to appeal failed due to absurd errors in the system.
According to TechSpot , the incident occurred when Kagansky tried to send an email to the LibreOffice developer mailing list. His Microsoft account was blocked with a general message about violating the service's rules, without any specifics. The developer openly appealed to the community to evaluate what in his message could have provoked the blocking.
Further attempts to restore access proved futile. The system required verification through methods that did not actually exist, and contact with technical support was possible only after logging into the account itself. When Kagansky used his wife's account to submit an appeal, the system resent the same instructions and automatically closed the application.
TechSpot also reported that it had encountered a similar situation when trying to recover one of its Hotmail accounts. Every attempt via backup email or SMS confirmation resulted in 404 errors or dead links. According to the editorial team, Kagansky's problem is not isolated, but part of a larger crisis of Microsoft's neglected account recovery system.
Although the company has not commented on the incident, the Internet community is already linking it to a long-standing confrontation between Microsoft and open source developers. LibreOffice has repeatedly accused Microsoft of trying to complicate interoperability - through its own XML schemas, the implementation of OpenDocument 1.4 in Microsoft 365, as well as the desire to tie users to the company's paid services.
This is the flagship project of The Document Foundation, which promotes open formats and free software as an alternative to commercial solutions. In April, developers welcomed the decision of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein to switch from Windows to Linux and LibreOffice in government institutions. This was in response to the approaching end of support for Windows 10 in October 2025, after which millions of devices will lose access to updates. LibreOffice encourages users to follow suit and abandon closed ecosystems.
Recall that we also published an article about how Microsoft admitted to the French Senate that it is unable to fully protect customer data in Europe from US government requests under the Cloud Act, even despite efforts to minimize such risks.
