Microsoft deems Slack, Google Docs and even GitHub unsafe for employees
Microsoft has distributed a list among its employees containing a number of programs considered unsafe for the protection of the company's data, discouraging their use. Among these are not only Slack and Google Docs, but even the GitHub platform owned by Microsoft itself.
Keeping your company's data safe isn't always that simple, and Microsoft knows it well. That's why the Redmond-based company has decided to discourage its employees from using third-party web platforms. Slack, Google Drive and Google Docs, Amazon Web Services (AWS): these are just some of the big names forbidden for employees of the tech giant behind the Windows brand. In the list the presence of GitHub stands out, purchased and owned by Microsoft itself.
GeekWire colleagues, the first to report the news, also shared part of an internal document of the American company in relation to the use of Slack:
"Slack Free, Slack Standard and Slack Plus versions do not provide required controls to properly protect Microsoft Intellectual Property (IP). Existing users of these solutions should migrate chat history and files related to Microsoft business to Microsoft Teams, which offers the same features and integrated Office 365 apps, calling and meeting functionality. Learn more about the additional features that Teams can provide your workgroup. Slack Enterprise Grid version complies with Microsoft security requirements; however, we encourage use of Microsoft Teams rather than a competitive software."
In a nutshell, Microsoft's concern is that someone can access its intellectual property simply by looking at the data from platforms over which the company does not have control. Can you blame them? In a world where data theft and industrial espionage are the order of the day, it is almost obvious to sympathize with a brand that does not want to offer its competitors a way of taking a look at its work in progress.
Forcing your employees to use your software is also a great way to force engineers to improve the user experience of those products. After all, they will have to deal with the problems every single day.
Do you agree with this Microsoft strategy? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: GeekWire
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