Not everything in this project is within my control. I can choose my personal email provider, my desktop operating system, and my cloud storage solution. But I can’t choose what my employer mandates for work communication.
That means Microsoft stays.
Outlook for email. Teams for communication. OneDrive and SharePoint for document storage. Office 365 for collaboration. Azure authentication for half the internal services we use. It’s all required, all non-negotiable, and all deeply integrated into the organization’s workflow. I can’t leave. But I can contain it.
The Web Wrapper Experiment (That Didn’t Work)
My first instinct was to create isolated browser wrappers using Chromium—essentially dedicated browser instances running nothing but Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft services. The idea was solid: complete isolation from my personal browsing, no cross-contamination, a clean separation between work and everything else.
I got it working. Outlook loaded, emails came through, the interface functioned. For a while, it seemed like the perfect solution.
Then the issues started. Outlook would randomly fail to load, leaving me with a blank screen. Sometimes restarting the wrapper fixed it. Sometimes it didn’t. The inconsistency was the problem—I couldn’t rely on it when I needed to check email quickly or respond to something urgent.
Given that this is work email, unreliability isn’t acceptable. I need it to function when I need it, not most of the time.
The Current Solution: Chromium as Work Browser
I’ve switched to using Chromium as my dedicated work browser—not signed into any Google account, used exclusively for Microsoft services.
Here’s what runs in it:
- Outlook Web for email and calendar
- Microsoft Teams for chat and meetings
- OneDrive and SharePoint for document access
- Office 365 Web Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) for editing shared documents
- Azure-authenticated services for internal tools
Everything Microsoft-related lives in this browser. Nothing else touches it. My personal browsing happens in LibreWolf. My isolated Microsoft browsing happens in Chromium.
It’s not elegant, but it works reliably.
Why Chromium and Not Edge?
Microsoft Edge would actually make sense here—it’s built for Microsoft services, integrates natively with OneDrive and Office 365, and would arguably provide the smoothest experience for a Microsoft-heavy workflow.
But the reason I went with Chromium is simple: it’s an easily installed package on Linux. Chromium is available directly in the Kubuntu repositories, while Edge would require downloading from Microsoft’s sources and adding their repository. This simply fits into my present Linux setup.
For a browser I’m only using for work isolation, the path of least resistance wins. Chromium gives me the same Chromium engine that Microsoft services are optimized for, without the extra steps of adding Microsoft’s repositories to my system.
That said, if you’re on Windows or already comfortable adding external sources, Edge remains a viable alternative—especially if you want the tightest integration with Microsoft services.
The Isolation Strategy
The key here is complete separation:
Chromium = Work only. No personal browsing, no personal accounts, no mixing contexts. If it’s not Microsoft-related work, it doesn’t happen in this browser.
LibreWolf = Personal only. Email (Proton), cloud storage (Proton Drive), general browsing, entertainment, research—everything non-work stays here.
No shared credentials. Work passwords live in a separate section of Bitwarden. Personal passwords don’t touch the work browser. If one environment is compromised, the other remains isolated.
No shared bookmarks or extensions. The work browser is minimal—no personal extensions, no syncing, no features I don’t need for work tasks.
This isn’t just about privacy. It’s about focus. When I open Chromium, it’s work mode. When I open LibreWolf, it’s personal mode. The mental context switching matches the technical isolation.
What About Native Apps?
Linux doesn’t have native Outlook, and even if it did, I’d probably avoid it. Native apps can have deeper system access, background sync, telemetry collection, and integration hooks that are harder to monitor and control.
The web versions, running in an isolated browser, give Microsoft only what I explicitly allow when the browser is open. No background processes. No system-level integrations. No persistent access beyond the browser session.
It’s not as convenient as a native app, but it’s more contained.
The Honest Assessment
This isn’t ideal. I’d rather not use Microsoft services at all. I’d rather have work email and collaboration tools that respect privacy and don’t require constant Azure authentication.
But that’s not the world I work in. The organization has made its choices, and those choices include Microsoft 365.
So the compromise is containment. Microsoft gets its own browser. It gets access to work-related data. It gets whatever telemetry it collects from the web apps running in Chromium.
But it doesn’t get access to my personal browsing. It doesn’t get to see what I do in LibreWolf. It doesn’t get my personal email, calendar, or files. The work environment stays walled off from everything else.
And that’s as good as it’s going to get for now.
For Others in the Same Situation
If you’re de-Googling (or de-teching in general) but work requires Microsoft, Google Workspace, or other big tech services:
Containment is a valid strategy. You don’t have to accept total defeat just because work mandates certain tools. Isolate them, minimize permissions, and keep them separated from your personal digital life.
Web versions are often better than native apps for privacy and control—even if they’re less convenient.
Dedicated browsers work. Chromium for work, Firefox/LibreWolf for personal. Edge for work if you want tighter Microsoft integration. The separation itself is what matters.
You can’t control what your employer chooses. But you can control how much access those tools have to the rest of your life.