[SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Zone Alarm help

[WazoO]

"Doc O'Leary" <droleary.usenet at subsume.com> wrote in message
news:droleary.usenet-C3DD63.03053601112003 at news.spamcop.net...
> In article <bntmqn$2ut$1 at news.spamcop.net>,
>  Michael Lefevre <michael.spamcop at michaellefevre.com> wrote:
>
<snip>
>
> > But you haven't offered a practical alternative in Heidi's situation.
Are
> > you saying that throwing one Mac box onto a corporate Windows network
and
> > leaving the user to attempt to configure it would be a good solution?
Or
> > are you say that a lower level, non-technical employee should attempt to
> > set the corporate IT policy?
>
> Holy shit: YES, ABSOLUTELY!  Your hierarchy is totally backwards.  IT is
> a *support* position.  You get payed so that other people can get their
> job done.

  Sorry, but the environment does play a real role here.  The Company
involved, the budget of said company, and for sure, the folks in
charge of the various departments.  It's nice that you keyed on the
"support" position, but then you go off on a tirade that suggests that
the IT "department" just might actually be in charge of the whole
shooting match.  In general, I'd have to say that this is pretty rare.

>  It is not your place to *dictate* how people you don't even
> know should work.  If I'm in the advertising department and say I could
> do something quicker and cheaper with Final Cut Pro, you should damn
> well bend over *backwards* to make that happen.

  And, the obverse ....  dictating how folks do things is in fact part
of the drill.  Hell, even the "thou shall not bring in software off the
street and thus fsck the corporate network with the Quake wars"
is a kind of shining example.  And if I fell for the "I just read an
article and I believe that this (insert product name/device here) is
exacrtly what I need [RIGHT NOW!] to do my job", not sure I
could even handle keeping up on the mundane, like keeping up
with the paper in the bathrooms ....

  In your example, one individual swears up and down that this is
the right tool for him/her, but you also have to evaluate the impact
of converting files, formats, and the training time to the folks that
were absolutley happy with the existing tools (and usually finding
every way under the sun to prove that the new tool sucks) ...
can you say "maybe an evaluation copy" ... or "show me the proof" ??

> If I were the CEO and you weren't doing that, I'd fire you.  If the IT
> department is so inept that they can only support cookie-cutter Windows
> boxes, I would raise hell.

  And, when hired on, did "you" authorize that these kinds of
decisions to be made and enacted by these folks?  If yes, then
definitely fire them ....  If these types of questions weren't
being brought up at staff meetings, perhaps you should have
wondered, but ....

  It's a fucking Mac; my mom can make it work
> and your $50K/year (or more) ass can't?  If it were my company and you
> locked us completely into propriety technology controlled by a conviced
> monopolist, your ass would be out the door faster than you could blink
> and you had better duck, because the guy that hired you would probably
> be tossed out right behind you.

 Same as above ...  seems to me that your remarks are based on
working for a long time in a vacuum, then having someone show
you why your corporation was going bankrupt with specific data ...
but that just suggests to me that "you" weren't asking questions
all along ...

> Of course, I'd say the same thing about any mono-culture.  It's just
> that Windows happens to be the established platform.  That actually
> makes it an extremely bad choice for standardization by large
> corporations because anybody can put Windows everywhere.  A smart
> corporation will find a way to gain a competetive advantage by putting
> different systems in places they better fit.

  I'll agree with that set of commentary, only to expand that the
secret is to find the people that can create this kind of environment,
and then support them.  If you'll pull out the "Book of Reality", I
think that you'll find that this magic environment isn't an everyday
occurrence.  So I'm going back to Michael's point ... OS war
isn't the means to answering a specific technical / functional question.