Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (243 mails)

[Matt Johnson <johnsonmlw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Brown wrote:

> Not being able to install software (business
> environment), not being able
> to save work because the floppy has run out of space
> and there is no
> access to the hard disk, not being able to diagnose
> faults because
> Start-Run was disabled, not being able to configure
> networking even with
> the administrator password (RM WindowBox), not being
> able to put in the
> *correct* proxy settings when the proxy server
> changed, not being able to
> shut the machine down cleanly because only
> administrators can shut down
> the machine, not being able to do *anything* because
> Win2K decided that
> the local administrator did not have administrative
> privileges (and
> simultaneously refused to allow domain logons)...


This is good stuff. Of course I lock down the desktop!
Everyone does - right? Well, it seems not...

I'd never put any hard thought into _whether_ I needed
to lock down the User Interface, just exhaustively
thought about _how_. 

I will of course tread carefully, but may think about
releasing some of the tight controls that cause users
annoyance. I've always imagined (and I have no
evidence of this) that, for example, icons will get
swept into the recycle bin with some inaccurate
clicking, and then I will be called upon to fix that
child's (read adults's) desktop because 'Acrobat
Reader has been completely wiped off my machine'. Of
course, this sort of thing could happen, but could it
be perhaps, that it causes less hassle than the lock
down.

Perhaps I might have a test by releasing the interface
for one year group, and seeing what happens. It would
be very easy to put back by enforcing the mandatory
policy again (yes, it's Windows (I typed that word
very quickly indeed - no one saw, right?)).

It's certainly food for thought. 

Incidently, I get a lot of help and information from
this list. I, for one, feel that the technical and
political discussions are relevant to me (and I'm a
Primary school ICT coordinator). I do feel that some
of us should take a deep breath before replying. The
tone can be too personal at times. I don't think
there's room for insults in the community. And
certainly no room for "but he started it". One of the
huge thing that attracts me to a list like this, and
to software like Linux, is the community.

Most important of all: 

I have received a _lot_ of help from folks here, and
our school has cost-effective, professional network
services because of it. There's no way I would have
got this far without the "which network card driver do
I use" style questions I've posted (and I'm fairly
sure no one could accuse those sort of questions, by a
newbie ICT coordinator, off topic).

--
Matt

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