Microsoft lashes out at Delta: Your ancient tech caused the service meltdown

Microsoft on Tuesday blamed Delta Air Lines for its weeklong bout of cancelations last month, claiming its aging technology caused the airline to recover far slower from the global tech outage than its rivals. Microsoft also claimed Delta turned down help after the CrowdStrike bug led to “blue screens of death” on Windows devices.

Microsoft on Tuesday blamed Delta Air Lines for its weeklong bout of cancelations last month, claiming its aging technology caused the airline to recover far slower from the global tech outage than its rivals. Microsoft also claimed Delta turned down help after the CrowdStrike bug led to “blue screens of death” on Windows devices. Microsoft, CrowdStrike and Delta have been in a war of words since the airline hired a high-profile attorney to seek compensation from Microsoft and CrowdStrike. Delta CEO Ed Bastian lashed out at CrowdStrike in a CNBC interview last week and said the computer problems cost Delta $500 million. CrowdStrike’s flawed software update caused widespread computer outages on July 19 at Delta and hundreds of other companies around the globe. CrowdStrike then fired back on Sunday, saying the airline had refused offers of help to get through the outage faster. On Tuesday, Microsoft joined in. In a letter by attorney Mark Cheffo, the tech company said that even though Microsoft’s software did not cause the outage, it “immediately jumped in and offered to assist Delta at no charge.” Microsoft employees asked Delta if they needed assistance every day from July 19 to 23, the letter said. “On the morning of July 22, a Microsoft employee, aware that Delta was having more difficulty recovering than any other airline, messaged a Delta employee to say, ‘just checking in and no pressure to reply, but if you can think of anything your Microsoft team can be helping with today, just say the word.’”