Microsoft has attracted a lot of attention after it suspended the account of a well-known LibreOffice developer without warning. He lost access to important services and was unable to restore it. The company's account recovery procedures have again raised many questions and concerns.
Mike Kaganski was using Microsoft Account for his daily activity. He reported the suspension occurred last Monday when he attempted to send a routine technical message to the LibreOffice developer mailing list using Thunderbird. The email failed to send. Upon retrying, he discovered his Microsoft account was locked. He was logged out of all associated services with no explanation.
He believes the suspension resulted from an automated flagging system, as the email content did not breach any stated terms. Kaganski initiated an appeal through Microsoft’s official process. The system requested his phone number, which he provided. But then he received an error stating, "Try another method," without offering alternative options.
He then attempted direct contact with Microsoft support. A support portal link required him to sign in, which is something he could not do due to the lockout. He described the experience as reflecting "pathetically incompetent" IT practices at the company.
Kaganski is not the only affected user. Earlier, a Reddit user u/deus03690 reported the loss of access to a long-standing Microsoft account containing 30 years of personal photos and professional files stored on OneDrive.
That user filed an appeal and received a response after 10 days, requesting completion of a recovery form and promising ongoing assistance. No further communication has followed, and the account remains inaccessible.
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