Office 365 asking for permissions to change browser settings - eviltoast

I have to use certain Microsoft apps for work, so I strictly only use the web versions as I am on Linux. However, just seen this setting pop up in Word while working on a document. I wonder what in specific they would change, considering i am on Firefox. Does anyone know anything about this? Is there an actual good reason for me to allow this, and if did what would it change?

  • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    9 months ago

    Just in general, if any app or platform or website prompts you to allow them access to something out of the blue, and there’s no obvious benefit or reason why you would need that, don’t grant it. It is on them to adequately explain what it is they’re asking for and why.

    This “improve your experience” bullshit is Microsoft’s default reason for letting them do anything. It means exactly nothing. Go to Microsoft to check documentation or ask them to explain thoroughly. Never take that line as an adequate explanation.

    Hell, chances are, if you allowed that, you’d probably see another pop up in a couple days or so saying “Ya know, why not just use Edge? Think of how much more improved the experience could be.”

    A good 80% of the shit Microsoft notifies you about nowadays is either a disguised ad or some sort of campaign to pressure you into their ecosystem (effectively ads). If the thing is working, you can ignore most everything else.

    • Lunch@lemmy.worldOP
      11·
      9 months ago

      Yeah wasn’t gonna allow it, but crazy that there is no additional information or link to explain further. Most lesser tech savvy / privacy focus people would click this without hesitation, that is what bothers me the most…

  • kbal@kbin.melroy.org
    24·
    9 months ago

    Every once in a while I wonder what things are like back in the land of Microsoft. That this message doesn’t give the user even the slightest hint about what it wants to do more specifically than “improve your experience” tells me all I need to know.

  • Bobby Turkalino@lemmy.yachtsEnglish
    19·
    9 months ago

    I believe this allows cross-domain cookie sharing for the current site, meaning office.com can use your cookies from microsoft.com for authentication/preferences/etc.

    I know I’m going against the “fuck Microsoft” train of this community, but this is pretty innocuous

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    16·
    9 months ago

    Use a new profile (firefox -p) and create a vanilla profile.

    In your profile folder (~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxx-default-release/) you will have a prefs.js

    Backup that prefs.js before, apply this office settings BS and backup the prefs.js after.

    Using a tool like diff (KDE has a GUI frontent for it) you can see the differences between these files, please report them.

  • kirk-clawson@kbin.social
    13·
    9 months ago

    Just a wild guess: It could be related to the TrustedScriptURL api. I know O365 makes heavy use of it since I’ve seen errors come across the logs referencing it. Problem is, only Chromium browsers offer this API. Neither FF nor Safari implement it.

    • MonkderZweite@feddit.ch
      1·
      9 months ago

      Maybe they should implement cross-browser then, or create a native app. Hell, there are tools to convert any webpage to a electron app.

  • Joël de Bruijn@lemmy.ml
    7·
    9 months ago

    Dont know in this case (which is part of the problem indeed) but sometimes account access is to make the device itself “the second factor” which reduces nag-screens asking for codes or other 2fa time and again.