Oh Yeah, I almost forgot! Add in the recent purchase of the Site-Wide Redhat License annouced today via the IT-Forum list to the rest of the noise... If we have a site-wide license for Redhat, they can hardly be planning to go all MS. I think my Libranet/debian boxen are safe. Would the La Board of Regents coughed up the bucks for a site-wide Redhat License if LSU was going all and only MS?
The site-wide license begs a question thought doesn't it? Hey Dennis, who they gonna call? You think Billy and company at the Helpdesk are going to be able field those calls? "I got an Unmet Dependancy error when I was using RPM. What do I do now?" Quick, name five people in the AgCenter IT group at large, ourselves included, that could field that question. I'd forward that email to your boss and ask for a raise. --- Doug Riddle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dennis: > > Allow me to play the Devil's Advocate for a minute. > > This is a growing trend. A college requires the use > of computers, and the administration consider them > in > much the same catagory as the text books, software, > and other equipment they require students to > purchase > such as specific calculators. From their point of > view allowing a PC to connect to their network, and > use their backbone to access the internet, makes > them > responsible for the actions (or irresponsible > inaction) of the computers connected via their > network. > > In an ideal world they could push patches and virus > scanner signitures and updates to every PC on their > network. This would, in theory, be a good thing. > > However, in the real world, they lack the manpower, > resources, money, and apparently the expertise, to > bring this concept to fruition. I am getting a port > scan every few seconds on my group at the AgCenter. > All but a very few are from computers the LSU A&M > campus IT group supports. The problem is that the > A&M > campus is not equally supported. Each college or > department gets the level of support they can pay > for > in cold hard cash. Where the tires meet the > pavement > there is a tragic disconnect. > > Laying LSU A&M ideals aside, taking the tools of > choice away from the geese that lay the golden eggs > simply isn't going to happen. What OS you get to > use > in your department will be decided the same old way > as > always - If your department has the research and the > stroke, you will do as you darn well please. I > suspect you are quite safe Dennis. Let's be honest, > in a Microsoft Shop, if you weren't good, and your > faculty wasn't happy, your > long-haired-OSS-hugging-bearded-self would have been > skidding down the sidewalk sometime ago, no? > > You were in the last meeting sitting next me. I > asked > specifically, is their a policy against OSS, > shareware, freeware, or any other software. Hell, > they don't even care if we give bandwidth away to > commercial distributed computing projects. They > allowed they ought to care about the last, but don't > have anything against it. > > You also have NIH (Not Invented Here) on your side. > AgCenter IT instinctively distrusts LSU A&M Computer > Services, because none of their ideas were invented > here. Change from the outside is resisted > instinctively by every human on the planet. IT > shops > are exceptionally prone to this syndrome. To be > honest, LSU A&M Campus is not a lot of help in most > cases, or Kappie would not have to waste three hours > a > month in a meeting bitching at them. > > Trust me, you're golden - you hippiefied, > unix-hugging, Linux-loving, freak. Who would they > blame for problems if you weren't there? > > I like Kappie. No bullshit from her. She answers > her > eamil and gives you her unvarnished opinion. I do > not > always agree, but I appreciate her frank, open, and > no > BS approach to IT. > > I understand your complaint, but if you want a > service, in this case an education, from some > entity, > then you pay the piper. They call the tune, you > dance, or go home. Life is not fair. If you are > lucky, you at least get what you pay for. > > My 2 cents, US. > > As Always, Your Friend, > > Doug > > --- Dennis Rowe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thu, 2004-05-06 at 22:02, Shannon Roddy wrote: > > > > > > > > > > This was taken from an LSU posting today: > > > > > > > >> IT-Folks, > > > >> > > > >> For the benefit of my own department, I > > prepped a very brief set of > > > >> notes > > > >> (attached) to summarize today's meeting. > > > > > > > > <I snipped this from his notes> > > > > > > > > Topic: Laptop program > > > > LSU is exploring a laptop requirement for > > students at LSU. This would > > > > work > > > > in tandem with the likelihood that ALL Windows > > computers at LSU will be > > > > required to be an "Active Directory" > > participant. Active Directory is a > > > > Windows server component that centralizes > > resources. It is seen as a > > > > necessary > > > > step toward securing the LSU network. > > > > > > > > </snip> > > > > > > As a full time systems administrator for Caltech > > and a part time > > > student at LSU, I would emphatically protest the > > requirement to have a > > > windows laptop as part of my enrollment. A > laptop > > requirement is fine, > > > but *I* should be able to choose the OS, > > especially if I have to buy > > > the damn thing. Linux may not be the answer, > but > > I have found OS X to > > > have the best of both worlds, especially for a > > student. I wonder if I > > > could sue the university? Hmm... laptop enters > > campus, gets infected, > > > I get home and it infects my network... You get > > the idea. I think LSU > > > has enough problems with Windows worms floating > > around without 20,000+ > > > students bringing them in from home. > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > General mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > > > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > I was at the above meeting, and the idea of having > > "ALL" Windows > > computers on the LSU Campus be part of LSU's > Active > > Directory, I found > > to be crazy. Besides the fact it would be a > > nightmare to move my 100 so > > odd computers to another domain that I don't have > > much control over and > > the fact that LSU can't keep their domain > > controllers up, there are > > probably some privacy issues with forcing students > > to add their > > computers to the LSU Active Directory. If I was a > > student at LSU, I > > would have serious issues with giving control of > my > > computer over to > > LSU, thats what they want? They want to have > > control over a student's > > computers so that they can install and change what > > ever they think is > > giving them "security" problems. I am still > > confused on how this will > > help security, are they going to take away the > > rights of students to > > install software on their personal computers? > What > > if I want to > > un-install the MS patch the Computer Services put > on > > my computer because > > it gives me problems (which has happened to me > > personally)? The only > > way I can see the above policy improving security, > > is by taking away all > > the rights of students to install software on > their > > personal computers, > > and for some reason I don't see that going over so > > well. A few more > > holes could be poked in this policy, example the > > wide open wireless > > access, but thats for another time. The whole > > laptop idea in general > === message truncated === ===== Warmest Regards, Doug Riddle An opptimist thinks the glass is half full. A pessimist thinks it is half empty. A realist knows that someone is going to have to wash the glass. I am a realist. I buy plastic drink cups. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover
