Slashdot Mirror
A Public Funded "Microsoft Shop?"
An anonymous reader writes "I work at a public hospital in the computer / technical department and (amongst others) was recently outraged by an email that was sent around our department: '(XXXX) District Health Board — Information Services is strategically a Microsoft shop and when talking to staff / customers we are to support this strategy. I no longer want to see comments promoting other Operating Systems.' We have also been told to remove Firefox found on anyone's computer unless they have specific authorisation from management to have it installed under special circumstances. Now, I could somewhat understand this if I was working in a company that sold and promoted the use of Microsoft software for financial gain, but I work in the publicly / government funded health system. Several of the IT big-wigs at the DHB are seemingly blindly pro-Microsoft and seem all too quick to shrug off other, perhaps more efficient alternatives. As a taxpayer, I want nothing more than to see our health systems improve and run more efficiently. I am not foolish enough to say all our problems would be solved overnight by changing away from Microsoft's infrastructure, but I am convinced that if we took less than half the money we spend on licensing Microsoft's software alone and invested that in training users for an open source system, we would be far better off in the long run. I would very much like to hear Slashdot's ideas / opinions on this 'Strategic Direction' and the silencing of our technical opinions."
Well that being a hospital I would hope that there is a HUGE ANTI CHROME sentiment. CHROME IS SPYWARE!
And I am sorry. IE8 is not ALL that bad. IE6 was the biggest piece of shit ever, and I am sure the taste is still in the air. But IE8 isn't really that bad. Sure as shit better than the SPYWARE that chrome is.
My addiction: Arguing with idiots. AKA Slashdot!
As an IT Director (who came up through a 17 year career as an IT support person), I'm increasingly frustrated by IT admins who just don't see the big picture.
Except, who here has really missed the big picture?
Great, you have absolute control over your users desktop environments, every program they can run, and every web site they can get to. To what end? Boosting sales of iPhones?
Your admins fight with you because they know things you don't. You users will just move on to the easiest way to get what they want done, whether for work or recreation. At most companies, this has little consequence; At a hospital, it means that because you didn't want to deal with FireFox, you have confidential patient information sitting on Yahoo's servers in plaintext emails. Congrats, you have a bigger dick than your admins, see you in court.