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Recap: The builders of LibreOffice, a free and open-source various to Microsoft Workplace, have repeatedly criticized Microsoft’s proprietary software program insurance policies over the previous few months. Though a current incident involving Microsoft and a LibreOffice developer has no recognized connection to the rivalry, it might spark additional criticism of the Home windows supplier.
When LibreOffice developer Mike Kaganski tried to ship an electronic mail to the productiveness suite’s developer mailing record utilizing a Hotmail handle this week, he found that his Microsoft account had been locked with out clarification.
A notification claimed that he had violated Microsoft’s service settlement, and Kaganski invited readers to find out what content material in his email might have justified the account ban.
Contacting Microsoft Help and submitting an attraction grew to become unnecessarily difficult. Makes an attempt to confirm his account utilizing his cellphone failed, as Microsoft beneficial verification strategies that didn’t exist. Worse nonetheless, contacting a consultant required logging into an account that was now not accessible.
When Kaganski lastly reached assist and filed a ticket for an attraction kind utilizing his spouse’s account, the system repeated the identical directions and closed the ticket.
Editor’s Be aware: At TechSpot, we lately discovered ourselves going through a well-known difficulty when trying to get better a Hotmail account – an expertise strikingly just like that of the LibreOffice developer. Regardless of a number of makes an attempt to make use of a secondary electronic mail handle and SMS-based two-factor authentication, we have been met with an countless loop of 404 errors and damaged pages. Different restoration strategies proved equally irritating, providing little greater than lifeless ends. The entire course of, which ought to be simple, was removed from the seamless expertise you’d count on from one of many world’s largest tech corporations. Our takeaway is obvious: the problem confronted by LibreOffice is not a uncommon, remoted incident. As an alternative, it factors to a broader downside with Hotmail – one that implies the service has been left in a state of neglect, with a password system that pushes for passkeys whereas the restoration course of is fully damaged.
On the very least, the incident displays poorly on Microsoft’s customer support. All through the ordeal, Kaganski by no means realized why his Hotmail account was locked. This difficulty might additionally encourage LibreOffice builders to proceed their anti-Microsoft rhetoric.
Final 12 months, Microsoft’s decision to shift Microsoft 365’s doc assist to OpenDocument 1.4 raised issues about hindering interoperability with LibreOffice. Earlier this month, LibreOffice builders additionally criticized Microsoft’s XML schema for comparable causes, accusing the corporate of making an attempt to lock customers into Microsoft Workplace and 365.
In April, LibreOffice builders praised the choice by the German state of Schleswig-Holstein to replace Windows with Linux and Microsoft Workplace with LibreOffice on authorities PCs. The transfer reduces the state’s dependence on a international tech large and saves taxpayer cash that was beforehand spent on licensing charges.
Though Schleswig-Holstein had been planning to ditch Home windows since 2021, Microsoft’s choice to finish official assist for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, doubtless accelerated the transition.
Home windows 11 adoption has accelerated in current months, however the working system’s system necessities will go away thousands and thousands of functioning Home windows 10 gadgets ineligible for an improve. In response, LibreOffice has begun supporting a campaign to persuade customers to comply with Schleswig-Holstein’s instance.
Surprisingly, Kaganski doesn’t plan to desert Home windows within the foreseeable future. He acknowledged that experience with the world’s hottest working system continues to be useful within the IT sector.