Microsoft lapse cause outages in Azure service

REDMOND, Wash. Microsoft unwittingly let an online security certificate expire Friday, triggering a worldwide outage in an online service that stores data for a wide range of business customers.

The sloppy housekeeping represents an embarrassing lapse for Microsoft Corp. as the software maker tries to bring in more revenue from the storage service, which is called Azure.

The expired certificate is needed to properly run online services such as Azure which use an "https" protocol to block unauthorized users from accessing information.

Microsoft's failure to renew the security certificate apparently caused the Azure service to go down shortly before 4 p.m. EST Friday. The breakdown prevented Azure customers from accessing files kept in Microsoft's data centers.

The service still hadn't been fully restored more than four hours later, according to a post on Microsoft's website.

"We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers," Microsoft said.

Azure's failure illuminates the pitfalls of storing important information in remote data centers. Online storage, often called "cloud computing," is growing in appeal because it allows workers to pull up data, wherever they are, to an Internet-connected device.

Cloud computing's convenience can turn into a major aggravation when a problem crops up like the one that tripped up Microsoft Friday.

[ReasonableVoicesAmongUs]

Some things never change...Microsoft has also accidentally let important domain names expire.

[123-cbsnews]

MS has always sucked, new releases that are supposed to fix old problems, it never happens, they charge you hundreds of dollars each time, Windows, and Office, repeat.

The words in context errors in MS WORD as a email editor after thirty years seems like the problem is half of employees are from INDIA speaking English as a 2nd language. Yet IBM had it (the PC blueprint and OS/2), dumped it, no money in it, Sun Microsystems even had a nice JAVA desktop OS, and we have what today Apple Mac OS to choose from? They have being making crap for thirty years also.

[hypnotoad72]

OS/2 had an unfixable bug in the system input queue. Stardock Systems had a workaround, which was sadly no panacea, nor should IBM have dropped the ball in the first place on such a critical OS component...

The more companies put profits and fast turnaround over quality, don't expect any change. Any positive, pro-customer change...

The only way Linux will grab hold is by doing what Google and Apple did (well, Apple used FreeBSD to leech off of instead of Linux), and a lot of open source was free so that anyone could have some freedom of use with it.

[123-cbsnews]

MS has always sucked, new releases that are supposed to fix old problems, it never happens, they charge you hundreds of dollars each time, Windows, and Office, repeat.

The words in context errors in MS WORD as a email editor after thirty years seems like the problem is half of employees are from INDIA speaking English as a 2nd language. Yet IBM had it (the PC blueprint and OS/2), dumped it, no money in it, Sun Microsystems even had a nice JAVA desktop OS, and we have what today Apple Mac OS to choose from? They have being making crap for thirty years also.

[RedDeath50]

And Microsoft wants to push everything to the cloud? No thanks! Not now. Not later. Never!

[you_MAY_be_right]

It ins't just MS. The federal government wants to do the same thing with ifno such as your private medical records. Welcome to Obammy Care.

[hypnotoad72]

youmayberight,

1. It's Romneycare. Obama went right to Romney's advisers to make it. Look it up. Forbes, Fox, and plenty of other news outlets mentioned it. So call it Rmoneycare as all it does is force people to buy insurance, and there's little that prohibits insurance companies from putting out fair costs...

2. Don't be a racist pig

[venusvegasvada]

"We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers," Microsoft said.


Translation:

"What are you going to do about it? Really?
We are Microsoft. You are who? You're not going to do a damn thing about it, even if it almost destroyed your business. So, sit down, shut up and keep buying our products. Thank you"

[hypnotoad72]

Fixes cost time and money.

A for-profit entity cannot last by fixing problems. It will want you to buy the new version. Even last decade, they said "Upgrade to Windows 2000 Pro" when discussing a problem with NT 4...

MS is hardly alone in this type of unethical behavior.

[Priestly-Badtouch]

Availability issues aside, once you put it in the cloud the data is no longer yours and you are exposed to losing it, or worse yet title to it, forever.

Don't tell me about the fine print guarantees, the ghouls who data mine your life make it theirs forever the first time they touch it. Gone.

[ReasonableVoicesAmongUs]

I bet black helicopters circle your home too. Been to Roswell lately?

[hypnotoad72]

ReasonableVoicesAmongUs - you don't read many company terms of service agreements, do you?

If it's in the TOS, then what you think is paranoia is closer to reality than you want to believe. Chances are good it's all about the marketing and money acquisition, but the TOS doesn't say "We promise not to tell ___ about ____, or about any concerns".

What they don't say is as important as what is said, obfuscated or otherwise.

Show vs tell, I apologize for doing what your pseudonym does nothing more than claim.