Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Just how much telemetry does The Enterprise need from my work laptop?
I couldn't get rid of Satan, the useless Windows Laptop fast enough. At the end, just turning on Satan swamped the network connection here at Chez Boca to be near useless. Good riddance.
Today, I turn on Satan's replacement, Belial, the annoying Mac Laptop. I'm not sure what The Enterprise is doing to it, because as soon as I turned on Belial, the network connection here at Chez Boca dropped to near zero.
At first, I thought it might have something to do with the weather, but on a hunch, I turn Belial off and the network becomes stable and usable. I turn Belial back on, and the network goes crazy again.
Sigh.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
So when did POP and IMAP become a “legacy protocol?”
I just received the following email at work:
- From
- Enterprise Services <XXXXXXXXXXXX>
- To
- Conner, Sean <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
- Date
- Thu, 22 Sep 2022 19:27:12 +0000
- Subject
- Legacy Email Protocols to be Retired
To All [The Enterprise] Staff,
Please be aware that Microsoft is disabling the use of several legacy protocols related to old methods of retrieving and sending email in the coming weeks.
What does this mean for you?
If you are using Outlook as [The Enterprise] provisions it, you do not need to do anything. If you use an alternate email program that relies on POP3, IMAP or SMTP, like native mail programs in iOS and Android, expect your [The Enterprise] email connection for that app to stop functioning when Microsoft chooses to disable these protocols.
What should you do?
[The Enterprise] only supports the use of the approved email client Outlook, Outlook 365 available in our [The Enterprise] tenant, or Outlook for iOS and Android. If you are not using Outlook, please switch today. If you require assistance, please contact XXXXXXXXXXXX.
Instructions for installing Outlook for mobile devices can be found here [Link to internal documentation removed. —Editor].
Thank You,
Enterprise Services
On one level, this doesn't bother me. I'm using the web version of Lookout (I assume that's the Lookout 365 for The Enterprise tenant they mention, at least, I hope so). I also don't check work email on my phone—never have, and I don't have plans on starting that any time soon either.
But on another level, this is concerning. Even though Microsoft announced this three years ago, it comes across as locking email down into a more centalized, proprietary system. I do have to wonder how long until Google decides that only certain clients can connect with Gmail? You know, for “enhanced security” or a “better experience.” I don't use Gmail, but I do have concerns about my ability to run my own email server and general interoperability with the large email providers like Google and Microsoft.
Update on Friday, September 23rd, 2022
This was posted to Lobsters, so go there for some more commentary.
Update on Friday, November 25th, 2022
I just found out this made Hacker News. And of course half of the comments are about the lack of HTTPS on my site. Heh.
Saturday, September 24, 2022
You move sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another inch over and deeper in exhaustion
So for reasons, Bunny and I are moving items from one storage unit company to another, and as part of that move, we're consolidating into a larger storage unit. We have a 10′×15′ storage unit (3m×5m for those who use sane units) with a garage type door.
The shelving units we use are these plastic module units that are easy to knock down and put back up. We have one wall lined with shelves already. Yesterday, we moved three more shelves into the unit along the opposite wall. Bunny was concerned about having enough space to close the garage door, but I assured her we had plenty of room by laying down one yet-to-be-installed shelf on the floor and showing that it fit into the space and didn't extend beyond the opening.
So today, we were moving another shelving unit into the new unit. I put up the shelving unit and went to test the placement by shutting the garage door.
That's when I found this small flange on the bottom the door. It's only about an inch wide (2.5cm) but it was wide enough to hit the newly installed shelving unit when closing the door. Then I was looking at three full shelving units that needed to shift over an inch or two (5cm). What's the saying? Measure twice, cut once?
Yeah.
So with no other option, I started to unload the shelves …
Sigh.
Monday, September 26, 2022
Outvoted
So without going into too much detail, there was a disagreement about the implementation of a feature at The Enterprise. The “feature” is just marking a particular type of account and having the ability to test it. At first, it was a disagreement between two people, one who wanted the feature supported, and the other who didn't, and the one who didn't want the feature implemented won by being more stubborn. But when the rest of The Enterprise (or at least multiple other departments and way more than just the initial two people involved) want the feature to be implemented, it seems unwise to me that the person who insists on not implementing it to double down on not implementing it.
