Today was the last straw in putting up with woke systems that are nothing more than productivity stumbling blocks with big brands, PR Companies, and organisations clearly obsessed with security, collecting data, and putting in place systems that create more productivity problems rather than fixing them. Their preoccupation with collecting unnecessary data has to be stopped in the interest of efficiency for Australian businesses.
This week, I had to log in four times simply to get access to an attachment to an email, and this problem is down to an fixated Microsoft who, despite all their bragging about AI, and productivity tools, are taking business back to a world of less productivity because of they are forcing users to keep logging in several times a day to get access to none secure content and basic information.
Earlier this week I tried to open my Outlook app, I was then pushed to a Microsoft authenticator to open Microsoft 365, after doing this I was again prompted back to Outlook only to have to log in again.
And if that was not enough, I also had to log in again to my authenticator to open an attachment that was a PDF sitting on our One Drive account which also asked for a new authenticator log in.
Then I tried to log into our Dynamics 365 CRM software only to again be prompted for a username, password, and another trip to the authenticator.
By this stage I had lost 10 minutes of productivity time when all I was doing was trying to open apps that for decades, we have never had a security problem with that was until Microsoft decided that they wanted to make more money by shifting their operations to a cloud-based services that appear to be high risk and crash.
Let’s face it, Microsoft wants you to operate in the cloud because that’s where they are making billions in profits, in a case of bugger the user.
Remember this is the Company that brags about security and productivity only for their Azure servers crashing leaving users without access to emails and simple apps such as Outlook. Word, Powepoint or Excel applications we have used for decades without any so called ‘security problems’.
Recently Microsoft Australia was making excuses for a crash that took out its Australia East cloud operation and several cloud based apps.
The excuse for a slow response in getting the service back up was insufficient staff numbers on site, which they claim affected their recovery efforts when their servers went down.
Microsoft operates a cloud infrastructure operation in Sydney, and when this went down it affected users of their services with the big US software Company blaming the weather and traditional Sydney storms at this time of the year.
Then this morning I tried to open a press release from Lenovo via their PR Company Herd MSL who happen to also be Microsoft’s PR Company.
Easy I thought.
No! because One click, and I find myself in another so-called cloud environment database, this time operated by Herd MSL owners Publicis Communications. 
I then go to download the press release only to discover that I have to register for the service.
Name address, password, data that should not have to be provided, simply to get access to a press release.
Surely, they know who I am because they have actually sent me a press release to my email address.
But it appears their systems are so bad that they cannot remember the email address to which they sent the press release initially.
Or they may have failed to register journalists onto their system before sending a press release.
So where is this information being saved, and are Herd MSL whose staff don’t return calls storing the information?
I lost another eight minutes because I wanted to write a story about several new products from Lenovo.
What is happening is farcical and indicative of the actions of woke management who are obsessed with the collection of unnecessary data.
Really, do I need to provide information to open a simple text press release?
I, for one, have been opening press releases from brands for decades without any problems, but now the likes of Microsoft, Lenovo, Herd MSL and their parent Company Publicis Communications are creating a new world order based on systems, poor productivity that in itself is leading to vast amounts of data circulating in the cloud.
It’s totally unnecessary, unproductive and a danger for businesses who are losing vital hours simply so some organisation can collect data on individuals and businesses.
What the Federal Government needs to do as part of its Cyber Shield initiative is eliminate the likes of MSL Herd from collecting unnecessary data especially when the Companies and organisations collecting the data are foreign-owned businesses that have given no indication of where the data they are collecting is being stored or why in the first place they need the data.
All I wanted to do was write a Lenovo story based on a press release that Herd MSL had sent me without all the hassle of having to log onto yet another database with my information and details disappearing into some foreign-based cloud service.
