FTFL.CA/blog

Problems using Microsoft Office 365 at Dalhousie University

1. Users of some browsers, including Safari, do not see attachments in Office 365's web interface if they are part of valid messages sent from my local mail client. A workaround is to use the drop-down menu on the right side of the screen to display offending messages in a new window. After doing this, missing attachments suddenly appear.
2. Before the switch to Office 365, people in the Math & Stats department had @mathstat.dal.ca email addresses. Since the department's mail server was shut down, messages sent to these addresses are not reliably forwarded to @dal.ca addresses. I recently missed an important corresponding-author message sent to my @mathstat.dal.ca address. Because of similar problems, my supervisor has decided to supply a private email address on all new paper submissions.
3. Office 365 determines that a crippled, light version of the web interface is suitable for the browser I use, Conkeror/Firefox on FreeBSD. This browser is standards compliant and receives a 100/100 on the Acid3 Test for Web Standards. Simply faking the user-agent string gives the full web interface, which works as well, or better (see 1.), as it does with more popular browsers. This is not an issue with any other webmail interface I have tried.
4. If mail is forwarded without keeping a copy, the light web interface will show different messages than the full web interface.
5. I attach a signature to Email messages I send, however on most browser, operating system combinations I have tried, Office 365 reports "This message has a digital signature, but it wasn't verified because the S/MIME control isn't currently supported for your browser or platform." Using Firefox on Windows, users are prompted to install owasmime.msi, but the install fails because ".NET Framework 4.5 or higher is required to run this ActiveX control."
6. After logging in, I occasionally see the error message "There was a problem accessing the site. Try to browse to the site again. If the problem persists, contact the administrator of this site and provide the reference number to identify the problem. Reference number: ...".
7. They may drop mail unless you pay a ransom.