Re: Answer from your commercial contractor
@Sjoera Cheers for that! Although my Dutch is somewhat rusty (has been 15 years ago for me, but fortunately we have DeepL), this was very informative! BTW, you do realise that the "villainous" adjective sprouted from your own pen, right? ☺
Since you are (clearly) familiar with this process, can I ask you...
[ 1 ] As some suggested here, has there to your knowledge ever been any consideration at all to look at alternative offerings? As you no doubt have seen some commentards here have suggested an OpenOffice alternative. Or is the Dutch Governments attention firmly Microsoft product locked?
[ 2 ] I see mentions of (by sys admins I assume) switching off specific MS products and services (e.g. LinkedIn integration, MS employee work accounts). That sounds a bit like the famous Dutch story of the little boy with his finger in the dyke to stop the Netherlands from flooding. However, from that, do we have to conclude that most, if not all actions actually depend on the Dutch making the necessary adjustments/ switches, and this will not be done/ delivered "default" by MS? Or perhaps better: I realise MS seems to have made "satisfactory changes", but looking at the list of "still open issues", "7 risks" and so on, it looks more like it still hinges significantly on actions to be taken by the Dutch than MS delivering a "satisfactory" product.
[ 3 ] With that one in mind: I suppose it's fair to say that the Dutch Public Sector is more than just "central government". It stretches from Miniseries in The Hague, via the Tax Offices in Limbourg, to your friendly local community civil servant in Friesland giving you info on rubbish collection times in your community. I assume they are all affected by this matter because they can still acquire access all your tied together data with your citizens number (was is called sofi?). Did you have any indication how absolute unified functionality and compliance with regard to these findings can and will be ensured throughout the whole public sector?
[ 4 ] I see a mention of audits and MS agreeing to cooperate. Will this also include audits of MS servers? Being cheeky: Are Dutch officials going to check those servers in the US MS product is connecting with? And if not, what would such an audit be worth in your opinion?
[ 5 ] This case found itself trapped in the spotlight because it concerns "the Government". However, privacy/ GDPR applies to ALL EU subjects, including a hospital, GP office, your insurer, or Jane/ Joe Average typing letter to their nan. Do you think this will be followed up, extended, and have consequences for others, including "the average customer/ consumers"? Or do your interactions suggest the Dutch Government is just/ only concerned with itself?
[ 6 ] And since villainous contractors have to make sure there is business continuation: have you guys been asked to continue your work on this, e.g. the "open" issues as in the SLM Advice (e.g. Workplace Analytics, Activity Reports, Delve, maybe even Skype use), or compliance of the current agreements?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
