Articles like this frankly scare the hell out of me.
Is centralized IT killing innovation? Are we working against our employees by keeping them in boxes and limiting their maneuverability? Are we inhibiting productivity by not allowing our employees to have access to tools that could help them get their job done faster?
What this reminds me of is the days when Microsoft gave not a crap about security and included every single little whiz-bang gadget in Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer without any real way of locking down what the users could do. So what happened? A flurry of activity by users who wanted to play with every tool available, a absolute nightmare for IT trying to support all these tools and the questions from every user trying to use them, and a mess of security holes and attacks caused by these same toys that we are still living with today.
I’m sorry if I want my network to be secure and not have to scramble to help my users figure out every little doohickey available in Office.
Ray Ozzie says, “IT’s requirements needn’t be inconsistent with end users’ desires.†Well Mr. Ozzie (you just have to love that name), I have a question for you:
Why do we want to meet the user’s desires? We must meet their needs! Now, if they NEED to have a tool to get their job done and we can make it reasonably secure, then so be it. If they want to download Weatherbug, then NO!
Mr. Ozzie (*chortle*), if you come out with a new toy that all my users want (PLEASE don’t bring back Clippy), then you better make it secure. And even if it is secure, I am not going to just run out and get it on everyone’s desktop. I have a job to do that does not include making all my users’ wildest dreams come true. Pedro I ain’t!
Vet
