> From: Tony Meyer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 11:31 PM > To: Coe, Bob; 'Ryan Malayter' > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: RE: [Spambayes] Local admin rights > > > [Bob Coe] > > > More broadly, I think this whole line of discussion fails the > > "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" test. Frankly, I think the > > Spambayes installation process works just fine the way it is. > > [Tony Meyer] > > I disagree. ISTM that managing your mail is a user process, and that > installing a filter to help you do that isn't something that an > administrator should be required to do (unless a specific organisation has > rules about doing so, and then it's up to the individual to obey their own > organisation's policies). > > > As a system manager, I should > > have the ability to decide what software gets made available > > to our users, and I see no good reason to make it easier for > > an unsophisticated user to install and use software that we > > haven't evaluated and don't support. > > As a user, I should have the ability to decide what software I use, assuming > that it use of it doesn't go against any of the my organisation's policies, > and that I do not expect any support from the organisation for it. I > certainly should not need to go to my system manager and wait weeks for the > extremely unlikely event of the system manager testing the software and > deciding to support it and install it for me.
You're a fine programmer, Tony; and if you worked in our shop, I'd almost certainly give you administrator privilege. But I sense that you've been in system development so long that you've forgotten how users think. Leaving it up to users to decide whether and how to obey the organization's policies is inconceivable in our environment. (And I suspect also in the average Spambayes-using environment; you've seen the quality of the questions that pour into this list.) > I don't see why this is just for an unsophisticated user, rather than any > user without admin rights. > > > Of course if the computer is yours, not your employer's, the > > issue shouldn't arise: just give yourself administrator > > privilege and have at it. > > Some people prefer to run without admin rights, though (some, probably > misguided, sense of increased security), and if we don't actually need the > additional rights to do the requested action, why should we require them? It's wise to run without admin rights because it arguably helps to defend against viruses and spyware, especially when surfing the Web. But the user of any single-user computer should have an admin account to use for software and printer installations, etc. Installation is what's at issue here; no one is suggesting that admin rights should be required to *run* Spambayes. Bob _______________________________________________ [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/spambayes Check the FAQ before asking: http://spambayes.sf.net/faq.html
