**News Flash: Microsoft Outage Sparks Debate on Decentralization**

A recent global outage of Microsoft’s Windows operating system has reignited discussions on the vulnerabilities of centralized systems. The disruption, which affected 8.5 million systems from July 18-19, halted operations for businesses, supermarkets, airlines, and banks.

Zain Cheng, CTO of Horizen Labs, highlighted that decentralized blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum remained fully operational during the outage, showcasing their resilience. Wes Levitt of Theta Labs noted that single points of failure in centralized systems are increasingly problematic as systems grow more complex.

While Microsoft and CrowdStrike are deflecting blame, public trust in centralized services continues to erode. Cheng emphasized that decentralized alternatives are becoming more relevant as people seek more reliable solutions. Levitt, however, cautioned that not all blockchain networks are equally robust.

This incident underscores the growing interest in decentralized technologies as a means to enhance system stability and reliability.