What you need to know
- Delta’s CEO recently blamed Microsoft for the CrowdStrike outage costing the airline $500 million.
- Microsoft called the Delta CEO’s comments “incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation.”
- Microsoft claims that it offered help to Delta on several occasions, including CEO Satya Nadella reaching out to Delta’s CEO, but that its offers had been turned down or ignored.
As an analyst with over two decades of experience in tech and business, I have seen my fair share of finger-pointing and blame games. In this case, the situation between Delta and Microsoft seems to be a classic case of he said, she said. However, based on the evidence presented, it appears that both parties are partially at fault.
After a massive worldwide outage that’s among the biggest ever recorded, company leaders are investigating the cause behind CrowdStrike’s service disruption, which caused BSoD errors on approximately 8.5 million Windows devices for extended periods. Delta Air Lines is one of the companies impacted by this incident, allegedly incurring a loss of $500 million. Last week, Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, publicly accused Microsoft of being responsible for the outage.
Bastian asked, “When was the last major incident at Apple?” To which he replied, suggesting that Microsoft’s platform might be the “least robust.”
Microsoft presents a significantly contrasting account of the circumstances leading up to the Delta and CrowdStrike downtime incident. They labeled Bastian, the Delta CEO, as misleading, asserted that he has not responded to Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, and implied that Delta’s problems extend beyond the CrowdStrike outage.
In a letter penned by Mark Cheffo, who represents Microsoft as co-chair of Dechert, a worldwide legal firm, it was stated that Microsoft expresses understanding towards Delta and its customers concerning the CrowdStrike incident’s consequences. However, Cheffo pointed out that the content of your letter and Delta’s public statements appear to be inadequate, untrue, deceptive, and potentially harmful to Microsoft’s reputation.
In my analysis, I came across a comprehensive disclosure by The Verge – it was none other than the extensive correspondence penned by Cheffo that they shared. Reading through this correspondence, it’s evident that Microsoft is expressing substantial dissent towards the assertions made by Bastian, as indicated by selected excerpts from the letter.
Despite the CrowdStrike incident not being linked to Microsoft’s software, Microsoft proactively offered free support to Delta starting from July 19th and continued until July 23rd. However, each time Microsoft extended their helping hand, Delta declined the offer, even though Microsoft had made it clear they would not bill Delta for these services.
According to a letter, a Delta worker assured Microsoft on July 22, 2024 (the same day Delta terminated more than 1,100 flights), that everything was running smoothly at their company, using the phrase “all good.” This claim by the employee is said to have happened.
As a researcher, I found an assertion in Cheffo’s report stating that on July 24, 2024, I, Satya Nadella, extended an outreach to Bastian, but unfortunately, I didn’t receive a response. Additionally, the document suggests that senior executives within Microsoft encountered a similar predicament, as our counterparts at Delta chose to overlook their attempts for communication.
Who is to blame?
Instead of solely accusing Microsoft of the issue, Cheffo pointed fingers at Delta, suggesting they have yet to upgrade their technology systems. In a letter, he highlighted that Delta’s IT system, primarily managed by IBM and other tech vendors, was mostly responsible for the airline’s problems. If this claim is valid, it would transfer the blame from Microsoft to Delta for relying on outdated infrastructure.
The letter clearly highlights that Delta stands apart from other airlines, as they are believed to have more advanced systems in place, making them more capable of handling an outage quickly due to their updated infrastructure.
It wasn’t just Delta who pointed fingers at Microsoft for the outage; the root cause was actually a flawed CrowdStrike update. However, due to the display of the well-known “Blue Screen of Death,” numerous users mistakenly associated the outage with Microsoft and Windows.
In response to Delta’s lawsuit, CrowdStrike labeled it as baseless. The CrowdStrike incident, as its name implies, appears to have stemmed from within CrowdStrike itself. Although some companies were more prepared for such a large-scale outage, the culprit was a problematic update distributed by CrowdStrike. On July 19, 2024, the CEO of CrowdStrike issued an apology for the incident. While CrowdStrike acknowledged that their faulty update led to the outage, they refuted allegations of gross negligence or misconduct, which were leveled against them by Delta.
Regardless of whether CrowdStrike was negligent or not, it’s probable that the company will need to take significant steps beyond issuing faulty $10 Uber Eats vouchers to restore its once-favorable standing.
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2024-08-06 21:39