BERLIN (AP) — It was the sound of e-silence.
No Microsoft Outlook email chimes, no Teams message pings, no new notifications and, very possibly, no work getting done.
Microsoft 365 teetered on the edge of becoming Microsoft 364 as the global outage stretched from Thursday into, ironically (or fittingly, depending on your personal outlook), Friday the 13th. The disruption has impacted an unknown number of netizens, but the total could be as high as 450 million — the figure the tech giant touts as the number of paid customers of the Microsoft 365 apps.
Many of us were doing the same thing: Refresh, refresh, refresh.
But what really happens when an essential workplace tool goes quiet and the silence is heard around the world?
Sadly, it seems, the extended break online did not mean that we went outside — or even offline. Thousands used the 21st century technology of social media to complain about the 20th century invention of email. Memes sprang up across the internet as brands like airlines rushed to capitalize early Friday on an unexpected long weekend.
“Emails can wait. The world has been waiting long enough,” Air India wrote on X. “Consider this your cue to plan that getaway.”
The airline's post featured a photo with a view out an airplane window with the quip, “A change of outlook we'd highly recommend.”
But the UK arm of discount grocery chain Aldi suggested staying home, writing “Microsoft being down is the equivalent of an adult snow day right?!” on Facebook.
Burger King instead opted for a message directed at Microsoft: “whoever’s troubleshooting and working on the outage rn…take your time. go out and get a Whopper.”
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, valiantly pitched some healthy offline ideas like taking a break from screens or stretching and walking.
We could do that. We could take advantage of a world and a workday where our inboxes don't demand all of our attention. We could savor the unexpected serenity of an enforced e-silence. We could take a walk! Really, we could.
Or we could stay inside, tethered to our laptops and desktops and smartphones, drafting hot takes instead of emails.
And again: Refresh, refresh, refresh.
For some unfortunate souls, Teams sadly still worked. Others were forced to pivot to alternate forms of communication.
“Having meetings on WhatsApp now instead,” one Redditor wrote.
“My boss pointed out the program that has our training on still works,” someone else posted.
Still more turned to other screens for entertainment: “Feet up on the sofa, coffee in hand and playing a bit of xbox, wonderful start to the day,” another said. “Hopefully outlook is down for the remainder of the day.”
But the outage also brought a nostalgia not seen since the 1900s.
“It’s actually been quite fun in the office," another Redditor wrote. "It feels like a bit of a social event — everyone is chatting, we’ve ordered breakfast in, planning a pub visit this afternoon if it continues. Is this what the 90s felt like?”
But for many of us, the Internet Age is all-consuming. Even if our ears got a break for a few hours from the constant dings and pings of notifications, our fingers remained ready to reply-all at a moment's notice.
Refresh, refresh, refresh.
The Associated Press uses several Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. The outage gave Dazio some peace and quiet to write this report.
AP journalist Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
A person walks by a Microsoft logo and sign outside the Microsoft Visitor Center at the company's headquarters Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
MOSCOW (AP) — A car bombing on Friday in Moscow injured an adviser to Ukraine's former prime minister in the second such attack in as many days and part of a series linked to the conflict with Russia's neighbor.
The explosion struck a car driven by Sergei Zavorotnyi, who previously worked as an adviser to former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, according to Russia's Investigative Committee. Zavorotnyi was hospitalized with injuries, the committee added.
It didn't identify possible suspects pending a criminal inquiry.
Azarov served as prime minister under Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced from office by protesters and fled to Russia in February 2014. Azarov also lives in Russia.
On Thursday, a military serviceman was killed in St. Petersburg by a bomb in his vehicle, according to the Investigative Committee. It didn’t identify the victim or say who could be behind the bombing.
The Fontanka news outlet said the victim was a colonel and a bomb in his car went off as he was driving. It claimed the bomb used for the attack had been flown over the border from Ukraine into Russia in a balloon and hidden before it was picked up and used in the attack.
The device was planted on instructions from Ukraine's spy agency by a man who had gotten a job at a grocery store near the apartment building where the victim lived, Fontanka said. It claimed that the man fled Russia immediately after the attack.
Other Russian online media said the victim of the St. Petersburg bombing was a senior air force officer.
There have been a series of bombings and shootings in Russia that targeted people involved in the fighting in Ukraine. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for the attacks.
Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks inside Russia. Ukraine’s SBU security service said in December 2024 that it had organized the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who headed the Russian military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces.
Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service leveled criminal charges against him.
In August of this year, a bomb ripped through an upscale restaurant in central Moscow, killing five people, including the bomber, and injuring about 20 others in what the mayor called a “brutal terrorist act.” Russian media outlets claimed the bombing targeted Col.-Gen. Alexander Chaiko, who led the troops that made a botched attempt to storm the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in 2022 and later was appointed the air force chief.
Later that month, the director of a Russian drone factory was badly injured and his driver was killed by a bomb planted in their car just outside Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Also in August, a military servicema n was killed and his wife was injured by a car bomb on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.
In September, a military serviceman was shot and injured in the city of Engels in Russia’s Saratov region, which is home to a major base for long-range bombers.
Law enforcement officer inspects the site of a car explosion that killed a military serviceman in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo)
Law enforcement officers inspect the site of a car explosion that killed a military serviceman in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo)
A car damaged in an explosion is seen in Moscow, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Law enforcement officers inspect the site where a car was damaged by an explosion in Moscow, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
A car damaged by an explosion is seen in Moscow, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
