Tenant is one term that irks me every time I see it: Does your customer have a Microsoft Tenant? In this context, "Microsoft Tenant" means the web domain a business customer uses to set up a Microsoft account. Most businesses simply use their dotcom web address. This domain fixes the customer's tenancy with Microsoft and allows them to set up a Microsoft environment. Supposedly this is standard usage throughout Microsoft's B2B ecosystem based on a taxonomy Microsoft established.

Let's break this down in plain English. According to standard definitions, a tenant is "one who rents or leases from a landlord" or "one who holds temporary possession of something belonging to another." A tenancy is defined as "the temporary possession or occupancy of something that belongs to another."

The semantics of this jargon hit me the wrong way for a couple of reasons. The customer can't have a Microsoft tenant. The customer is Microsoft's tenant or has a tenancy with Microsoft. The semantically and grammatically correct way to phrase this question should be: Is your customer a Microsoft tenant? Or, if we get rid of the jargon altogether: Is your customer's web domain currently registered or linked to a Microsoft account?

Microsoft has used the word "tenant" to mask what they're actually asking for: the web domain Microsoft will use to establish the customer's digital workspace and environment. Microsoft has also flipped the syntax to distort the fact that the customer's tenancy is passive, not active. The context shift from everyday plain English usage of "tenant" and this strange syntax shift create a friction point that slows the user down. Especially if they are new to Microsoft's B2B ecosystem, like I am.

This is a clear example of jargon—backend developer and internal corporate language—bleeding into the frontend of a user journey. It also makes clear, as if there'd ever been any illusions, what Microsoft thinks of its customers. They're tenants renting digital real estate where they can create and store IP (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), send and receive emails and maintain calendars (Outlook), and conduct internal communications (Teams). If the customer terminates the tenancy with Microsoft, they will have to spend a lot of money and effort to transfer their IP to a different environment.

I've never been a fan of Microsoft products. I've only ever worked with Microsoft products when I've had no other choice. Their user experiences are not delightful. In 2018, I begrudgingly subscribed to Microsoft when applying to creative writing graduate programs, as most programs would only accept writing samples in Word. Once in grad school, I had a free Microsoft Office account from my university and had to submit all my coursework as Word documents. Since completing my master's, I've continued to renew my personal M365 account every year so I can continue to access and work with my writing from this time. I know I could transfer these Word docs to an open-source text editor, but this would take more bandwidth than I've had spare.

That's why I've decided to explore what blockchains have to offer and how to work with them to stop being a tenant and become an owner.