[X4U] Video conferencing on a PC

[Richard Gilmore]

The IT folks here have the same bias, although they do allow our Macs on the
network but they tell us they, "look the other way" which pisses me off but
what can you do. They've never had a problem with a Mac.



> 
> Are you kidding?  It has been my experience (and the experience of 2
> relatives and 2 friends, all at different companies), that corporate IT
> folks will refuse to allow Macs on their networks.  My mom has been
> desperately trying to get her Powerbook online at her work, but the
> "giver" of IP addresses denies every request because they cannot be
> "proven" secure since his tools can't scan her machine.  Even when some
> sort of worm hosed all the PC's, she was forced to dial in to send an
> important email (work-related).  When everyone else saw that she was
> online via dialup, they used her Powerbook to access their webmail.
> All except for Mr. Stubborn the IT Wizard.
> 
> My dad, working at a bank headquarters (not a bank branch with money,
> tellers, etc.), got laughed out of the building by IT when he suggested
> that they let his emergency backup iBook on the network since his
> company-issued machine had gotten infected on-site and was unusable.
> He just wanted to send some excel charts to his supervisor.  He didn't
> have dialup, so he got to wait until the next day to do his work.
> 
> PC-centric IT folks know that 1) allowing macs on their networks breed
> more macs and 2) more macs mean less need for their expensive @sses.
> We know macs are about 10,000 times safer than PC's, using that as an
> argument never works, it just pisses IT folks off the edge.  From my
> experience, only PC's configured by the IT department and locked down
> are the only machines allowed on the corporate networks I've been
> exposed to.
> 
> Sorry for the rant.  One of us has some very abnormal business
> computer-related experiences.  Perhaps you were being cynical when you
> said "If they've got a clue"?
> 
> Peter