[X4U] Trying to get a Mac Laptop approved - Part 1

[Ed Gould]

On Oct 16, 2008, at 6:17 PM, John Erdman wrote:

> Your IT guy is toeing the company line pretty carefully... and they  
> do have experience behind them to back up his arguments.
>
> You're not getting much creative help here. It is possible in some  
> places to chip away at the rock. The solution however is for you to  
> buy the laptop yourself and provide your own support. You would  
> clearly have to get corporate IT clearance to connect and access  
> their systems. But honey works better than vinegar, especially if  
> you can show the business need being served and aren't putting any  
> of their capital at risk.
>
> I did this twice once by introducing an Apple II with Visicalc to a  
> large multinational corp. Nobody had ever heard of it before and  
> when the business leaders saw its value for their businesses, all  
> of a sudden I began to see some Apple II's appear despite the IT  
> folks poo-pooing them. Of course this was before we had to worry  
> about networking the desktops.
>
> And then later on I introduced the Mac the same company but the  
> environment was now 100% IBM pc's. But by this time I had been  
> promoted and now had a budget of my own to be responsible for. I  
> was able to connect the Mac to the corporate network. The business  
> value in this case was the prep of stunning graphics for business  
> presentations.
>
> There's a lesson here but I'll let others articulate it.
>
>  You'll probably have to get your own boss on board in order to  
> make any progress. But I'm guessing that buying the laptop yourself  
> isn't what you had in mind.  But might be a good investment for  
> your career. It was for mine.
>
> Good luck.
> John
> ____

John:


That might be OK in a small company but in a large company they have  
guidelines (rigid standards) about what can and cannot be hooked up  
to the net work (actually in their eyes its a good rule) and if  
*ANYTHING* goes wrong you are blamed and you will be fired without  
recourse. I have seen it myself so it does happen.

Ed