[P1] Using a Mac in a Windows office

[Allan Hise]

On Sat, 22 Feb 2003, Charles Martin wrote:

> If she's on Mac OS X (10.2 or higher), there's not a lot to do. She
> should be able to plug right into the network and share printers and
> files with the same ease (actually MORE ease) than if she were using a
> PC. No VirtualPC necessary. Now if they're on some kind of funky
> network groupware thing like Novell or Citrix, she'll need Mac clients
> for those, but for plain-jane Windows networks she should be
> plug-n-play.

I work at a company where the IS department has absolute control over
everything, down to the point of making us get permission to look at every
single web site we need to vist. It is quite oppressive, but they justify
it with BS statements that usually involve the words "protect" and
"virus".  It doesn't matter that it cuts productivity way down.

The point is, if you have a network that is tightly controlled, you may
not be able to just plug your mac in. You may have to have your MAC
address approved to access teh network. You may not have DHCP turned on,
so you'll have to fill out all the info DHCP provides to the Network
Preference pane. You may have to surrender root & admin access to IS. You
may be laughed at when you attempt to put a personal (non company)
computer on the network or your request to add a mac may be denied.