Sneaking in a work from home day could soon be a bit trickier thanks to a new update coming to Microsoft Outlook.
The email provider is rolling out a new feature that will allow users to spot which of their co-workers or colleagues is currently in the office, and therefore possibly free for a quick meeting or able to reply to a message.
The update will use the Work Hours and Location information stored within Outlook to offer up this information, meaning there may be some awkward conversations if your colleagues believe you to be in the office.
In its entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company notes that the feature will be “always on”, meaning there may be no getting around what it represents as your office presence.
It very clearly says it’ll be using your work hours and location information. MS is turning your hardware into a GPS tracker for your company.
Except since there’s no actual GPS tracker, it uses your IP address. Microsoft thinks I live in either Virginia or North Dakota or Florida, depending on which part of the company’s VPN I connect to.
I hate to break it to you but they are logging your location every time you log into their hardware… if you are using your own hardware, stop being an idiot and make your daddy buy you equipment required to do your job for him.
pssh I wish I could use my own hardware. even if you get a great machine at first they never upgrade. do it like phones where you get an allowance if you use your own for work. I’d dual boot and always have top of the line
if hey pay you allowance, that’s fine from economic perspective. i would still be a bit concerned from privacy side tho of sharing work and private device for anything.
I would never allow non-corp equipment to connect to our network.