Microsoft’s Account Controversy: Banning LibreOffice Developer Sparks Concerns
In recent developments, the ongoing tension between Microsoft and the open-source community has escalated. LibreOffice, an alternative office productivity suite, has pointed fingers at Microsoft for allegedly employing convoluted file formats as a strategy to entrap users into its ecosystem, effectively stifling competition from platforms like LibreOffice.
Account Ban of LibreOffice Developer
In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft has suspended the account of prominent LibreOffice developer Mike Kaganski. This decision was justified by Microsoft as being rooted in “activity that violates [its] Services Agreement.”
The Incident
As Mike attempted to send a routine technical email to the LibreOffice developer mailing list last Monday, his efforts were thwarted when Thunderbird generated an error, indicating his message could not be sent. Following a failed retry, he found himself locked out of his Microsoft account.
Convinced that a bot had flagged his account in error, Mike Kaganski decided to appeal the ban. His interactions with Microsoft’s automated appeals system led him to express frustration with the company’s IT support capabilities, stating, “miserably incompetent in IT.” After entering his phone number as prompted, he received a “Try another method”error, which he found perplexing since no alternative methods were available.
Support Challenges
In search of a solution, Mike resorted to finding a direct link to Microsoft support. However, he was confronted with a frustrating situation: he needed to sign in to contact support, despite being unable to access his account. He humorously noted:
“Here is a page where we discuss problems signing in. You attempted our FAQ suggestions? You still can’t sign in? No problem! Contact our Support team, and we will solve your problem in a minute! But first, please sign in to continue.”
Ultimately, using his wife’s account allowed him to submit an appeal. Microsoft support responded with directions to go back to the sign-in page and provide a phone number if the account was still blocked. Unfortunately, they overlooked his detailed account of the failed process, marked his ticket as resolved without any further assistance, and closed it.
Ongoing Account Recovery Issues
To date, Kaganski remains without access to his account. Ironically, he was able to send the email he originally intended through his Gmail account without any issues. For those interested, you can read the full content of the email and evaluate if it breaches Microsoft’s services agreement.
Kaganski’s predicament is not an isolated incident. Another user, Redditor u/deus03690, recently reported account lockout issues that resulted in losing access to 30 years of invaluable content on OneDrive. Following their appeal, they experienced similar frustrations, highlighting that they were promised assistance but have yet to receive substantive follow-up from Microsoft.
The user stated Microsoft reached out ten days later, requesting completion of a recovery form but has since gone silent in terms of actual support.
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