It's a familiar feeling for anyone who has seen the 1986 movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off": Waking up to an unexpected day of freedom. And on Friday, people didn't even have to fake a fever or dodge a strict school principal.
For millions, the global technology outage was a source of distress. Airports were filled with frustrated travelers, hospitals canceled non-critical procedures, and 911 lines went down in several states.
But for some corporate workers, the outage brought a welcome kind of chaos - a "snow day" in the middle of summer. Employees affected by the outage shared images of their blue-screened computers on social media, celebrating an "International Blue Screen Day." On TikTok, workers hoped to clock in only to find the "blue screen of death."
The outage hit major companies hard. CrowdStrike, whose software update caused the problem, counts 70% of Fortune 100 firms as customers. Affected firms included JPMorgan, Bank of America, and BlackRock.
"The reason this outage was so visible is that the largest companies were hit," said Mikko Hypponen of cybersecurity firm WithSecure. "They don't control the whole cybersecurity market, but they do have a very large percentage of the world's biggest companies."
For some, the chaos brought an unexpected day off. Yeves Perez, a startup founder in Las Vegas, saw his meetings canceled and planned to spend the day barbecuing and relaxing with friends. Rohan Brown, an entrepreneur, had his flight canceled and meetings rescheduled as people "took the whole day off."
Amid the disruption, a few workers openly celebrated their unexpected free time, sending messages about "International Bluescreen Day" to their group chats. For a brief moment, the outage provided a welcome dose of chaos and spontaneity.