Linus GasserMay 19

Today #EPFL made me a great present: making me understand that they don't give a SHIT about digital autonomy! So now:

- I uninstalled all MS software from my computer and smartphone:
- no mail on my phone anymore, as EPFL decided to block non-MS apps
- calendar barely working on my phone because of MS embrace, extend, extinguish
- I'll request to opt-out from WorkSpace One - why should I send all my data to the USA?

#DigitalAutonomy

Show threadLinus GasserMay 19

Now I need to update cryptpad, install a nextcloud instance, and tell Claude to go wild to create a web-service connecting to OUTLOOK.COM to fetch my emails.

It's not that I have nothing else to do, but running after shitty MS products (I just spent 1h fixing Word footers) is definitely not my idea of Digital Trust!

Show threadJanik   May 20

@ligasser Thunderbird already went wild to connect to OUTLOOK.COM.

Afaik the outlook api is undocumented and it requires reverse engineering.

Show threadLinus GasserMay 20
@janikvonrotz classic embrace, extend, extinguish protocol. Implemented at MS since the late 70's!
Show threadNicolas AspertMay 20
@ligasser @janikvonrotz Microsoft's behavior is well known. What I find infuriating is that EPFL rushes into vendor lock-in instead of staying clear from it. Experience taught us that this cannot end well...
Show threadLinus GasserMay 20

@aspert @janikvonrotz Well, the money is clear: paying 300k per year for all of MS' services at EPFL is unbeatable. How can you compete with that?

When EPFL searched for a new login provider, MS threw in Entra "for free". So of course other companies offers have not been retained.

Show threadNicolas AspertMay 20
@ligasser @janikvonrotz Entra is the less problematic of the lot IMO, you can use it from basically any client since it complies with oidc/oauth. The moronic "email client restriction for your safety" breaks a lot more things
Show threadJanik   
@aspert @ligasser Have you been trough the hoops of registering an OAuth-App in Entra? It has become everything else than less problematic. Of course, the process has been carefully designed to make it as difficult as possible to integrate thirdparties.
May 20 at 2:35pmWeb
Show threadNicolas AspertMay 20
@janikvonrotz @ligasser The EPFL portal for registering the app and getting the tokens is pretty simple to use TBH, so maybe I did not get the full Entra experience :)
Show threadLinus GasserMay 20
@janikvonrotz @aspert my colleague did it for the e-voting at EPFL. Seems it worked well. Took some time, as we don't have the sysadmin credentials...