LibreOffice, one of the leading open-source alternatives to Microsoft Office, offers a full suite of productivity tools—word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. But now, a troubling incident involving one of its developers has raised eyebrows.
Mike Kaganski, a long-time contributor to the LibreOffice project, has publicly claimed that Microsoft blocked his email account without explanation. The issue, first reported by WinFuture and detailed on Kaganski’s personal blog, highlights concerns about platform control and user transparency.
One of the LibreOffice developers reports that Microsoft has blocked its email account
The incident occurred on July 21, 2025, when Kaganski attempted to send a routine technical message to the LibreOffice developer mailing list. Using the Thunderbird email client, he was met with an unexpected error. At first, he assumed it was a temporary glitch—until he received a more serious message: “Your account has been blocked.”
Microsoft’s error notice offered little detail, simply stating that “suspicious activity” had been detected, which allegedly violated the Microsoft Services Agreement. Kaganski tried to use the account recovery tool, but it led him nowhere—it failed to verify his identity and didn’t offer alternative recovery options.
Frustrated, he turned to Microsoft’s technical support. After answering various questions and providing the requested information, he ended up right back where he started, with no path to recover the account or even learn why it had been blocked.
Kaganski documented the entire experience on his blog, noting that Microsoft’s account recovery process is flawed and unhelpful in these kinds of situations.
Speculation and Community Reactions
While Kaganski was able to send the original email using a different client, the whole ordeal left him puzzled. He considered that maybe the block was triggered by the number of links in the message—he often uses links to back up his technical arguments.
However, the same content worked fine from a different mail service, so it’s still unclear why the block happened.
This isn’t an isolated incident either. Other users have shared similar stories—one person on Reddit claimed that Microsoft locked them out of a OneDrive account containing 30 years’ worth of work and personal photos, with no effective way to appeal.
A Sign of Growing Tensions?
Some speculate this might reflect tensions between Microsoft and open-source platforms like LibreOffice, which has long positioned itself as a free alternative to Microsoft’s software suite. However, Kaganski himself says he doesn’t harbor hostility toward proprietary software and has no idea why his account was targeted.
Whether it’s a glitch, an overzealous automated filter, or something more deliberate, the lack of communication from Microsoft is what’s most concerning. It underscores the risks of relying on centralized platforms where users can be cut off from essential services with little explanation and no clear recourse
