The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Nov. 13, edition that experts warn that a Microsoft outage affecting tens of thousands of users highlights the risks of heavy reliance on a single technology provider. The Globe's Irene Galea write that the outage affected the company's Outlook e-mail, Teams messaging app and artificial intelligence assistant Copilot, with nearly 130,000 reports from 74 countries on Downdetector. By evening, the number of reported issues had decreased by about half. Microsoft said the issue with its network began around 11 a.m. ET, acknowledging widespread issues related to "elevated load" on certain servers. As of the early evening, Microsoft said it had initiated restarts of all the affected servers, though doing so had not yet "provided the anticipated relief." The outage highlights the risks of relying on a single provider, said OpenMedia's Matt Hatfield. He emphasized the need for Canada to develop a more decentralized, open-source tech stack. Canadian Shield Institute's Vass Bednar says that "on a day when Outlook goes down, you really appreciate how much of our economy runs through digital pipes. It mostly underscores how Microsoft has a tight hold on white-collar work."