Move Over, Trello, Microsoft Planner Is Here

With the launch of Planner, Microsoft’s answer to Trello, some of Microsoft’s premium customers can already take advantage of the new tile in their Office 365 apps.

Microsoft has certainly been busy. Windows 10 is a done deal, the purchase of LinkedIn is rolling along, so why not launch a brand-new feature in Office 365 that takes on one of the handiest collaborative tools to come along in ages?

Planner has a few key differences over Trello, of course. Rather than the card system that so many collaborative assistance users are familiar with, Planner relies on buckets to organize the tasks you and your team members have to do. Progress is mapped out in multi-colored charts to show tasks and progress at a glance.

One of the biggest benefits users may experience is the seamless integration with file sharing due to the fact that this is all powered through Office 365. Team members can attach files, open them, read them, edit them, and more, all without ever having to leave Planner.

Planner also offers a one-stop view of everything you’re working on, even if you have plans for different projects, different teams, or even different companies, as in the case of using Planner to keep yourself on-task with multiple clients’ projects or as a freelancer, for example. The My Tasks dashboard shows you every plan you have going, as well as your completion status on each of those plans, all in one screen.

Interestingly, while Planner has only launched for certain subscription levels within the platform, Microsoft’s team claims they are reading every piece of feedback they get. That’s a sign that they understand the ramifications of encouraging people to move from one tried-and-true collaboration platform to a brand-new one, and they’ve promised that updates and improvements will be coming quickly based on users’ experiences.

Microsoft Threatened By French Watchdog

Microsoft risks fines unless it complies with a three-month ultimatum from France’s data privacy watchdog, CNIL, to stop collecting masses of data and tracking Windows 10 users without their consent, and importantly, transferring data outside the EU to ‘safe harbour’ locations, all in violation of French law.

CNIL can levy a maximum fine of €150,000, and that figure can be doubled to €300,000 if the offence is repeated. For Microsoft such a fine is less than loose change in their pocket, but for the French regulator, it’s a matter of principle.

CNIL has form for this type of behaviour. It is widely considered to be one of the few watchdogs in Europe with real teeth, and have been in a years long tussle with Google as well, for their failure to remove global ‘right to be forgotten’ search results.

Following on-line investigations in April and June of this year, CNIL decided that many features of Windows 10 were actually failing to comply with the French Data Protection Act, including:

• Collecting irrelevant and excessive data from users
• That there is lack of security in that the number of times login pin codes can be entered incorrectly is not limited
• That advertising IDs are turned on by default and users can be targeted by individual advertisers without consent.

Crucially, however, the most stinging criticism levelled against Microsoft is that the company is still “transferring its account holders’ personal data to the United States on a “safe harbour” basis.”  

This is despite a previous order of the Court of Justice of the European Union on 6th October 2015 prohibiting the act.

Under French law however, Microsoft has a three-month window to comply with the regulators orders to fix the above issues. If it does not, CNIL will appoint an investigator who could recommend sanctions against the company.

“The purpose of the notice is not to prohibit any advertising on the company’s services but, rather, to enable users to make their choice freely, having been properly informed of their rights,” said the CNIL website

Windows 10 Driver Kernels Just Made The OS Safer

Microsoft are doubling down on their efforts to make Windows 10 more secure by announcing that all drivers for fresh installs of the operating system will now have to be digitally signed by the Redmond based business.

Admittedly Microsoft have made this statement before, last year in fact, when it said that all kernel mode drivers would have to be verified via the Windows Hardware Dev Centre Portal in order to signed off digitally by Microsoft.

However, Microsoft never quite got around to enforcing the move as a rule due to technical feasibility issues, and instead opted for it as a best practice guide for developers.

“Starting with new installations of Windows 10, version 1607, the previously defined driver signing rules will be enforced by the Operating System, and Windows 10, version 1607 will not load any new kernel mode drivers which are not signed by the Dev Portal. OS signing enforcement is only for new OS installations; systems upgraded from an earlier OS to Windows 10, version 1607 will not be affected by this change.”

But from now on, and starting with Windows 10 version 1607 fresh installations, all new Windows 10 drivers will have to be signed off or Windows 10 wont install them on users’ systems by default.

Fortunately, and in a move governed by common sense, the new policy does not apply to old drivers, just new ones going forward, and also only to new, fresh installations of the operating system.

Systems that already have Windows 10 installed and are just upgrading to the latest version of Windows shouldn’t be affected.

“We’re making these changes to help make Windows more secure. These changes limit the risk of an end-user system being compromised by malicious driver software.”

Not of course that any of the above will guarantee that malware won’t make it onto users systems via drivers, but it does make sure that driver publishers are authenticated more robustly, and it helps keep Windows 10 more secure at a base level.

US Gov’t Can’t Force Microsoft To Hand Over Foreign Data

Microsoft has won a major court appeal that has enabled it to prevent handing over email data located on servers in the Republic of Ireland to US authorities.

Microsoft had been challenging an earlier court decision that had granted the US Department of Justice a warrant seeking emails stored on a server in one of Microsoft’s European data centres, located in Dublin.
The warrant specifically centered on electronic mail that related to a major narcotics prosecution in the US.  While the origin of the original emails is still unknown, Microsoft had argued that the warrant did not entitle the DOJ access to the Dublin server because U.S. law does not apply to Ireland.

A number of fellow tech companies had publicly backed Microsoft in its appeal, filing arguments to the appeals court in support of the Redmond, Washington based tech company, including Amazon, Apple and Cisco.

A federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. government cannot force Microsoft or other US based companies to turn over customer emails stored on servers outside the United States.

“[We] conclude that section 2703 of the Stored Communications Act does not authorise courts to issue and enforce against US‐based service providers warrants for the seizure of customer e‐mail content that is stored exclusively on foreign servers,”

Microsoft is thought to be the first U.S. company with the resources and finances to challenge a domestic search warrant seeking data held outside the country.

Microsoft president Brad Smith said:

“It makes clear that the US government can no longer seek to use its search warrants on a unilateral basis to reach into other countries and obtain the emails that belong to people of other nationalities.”

The Department of Justice said it was disappointed with the appeals court verdict, and is expected to appeal itself, to the US Supreme court.