RE: Look again -- the barbarians might be inside the gates
Well known discussion, but really, it comes down to experience.
My question after reading the Gartner report, and having had the same discussion at work, is what kind of experience do these "IT Professionals" referenced in the report have ?
The 70% people voting for open usage, and less restrictions can't have had any experience with large virus breakouts, or large organizations where it's "free for all".
After spending the last 4 years in the company, going from a minimal control, "users are local admins" environment, to a semi-controlled, users have only "user rights" environment, the benefits have been both visable, and easy to calculate cost reduction on.
Yes, the challenge is user information, and open discussion on why they can't install what they want and connect what they want, but senior IT and Business management support and buyin have been the key.
We have almost removed virus, spyware, adware, malware, pirated software, music and movies. Almost, because consisting of 100+ companies, there are of course those that have management approval for having local admin rights.
And usually these are the "IT Professionals" that belive restrictions should not apply to them.
So my conclusion after reading the Gartner report was, that the opinions of the 70%, carries very little relevance for for my company, and probably most large organizations.
