[ale] my company and linux

[Transam]

> I have to chime in here.  I work at Emory U. in Atlanta.  I'm NOT an IT
> guy...at least not professionally.  However, my job REQUIRES that I
> support my operation 100%.  In other words, if I can't fix what's wrong in
> my labs, we call the manufacturer.  This doesn't include the computers
> that control our lab equipment.  If we can't fix the computers when they
> crash, we're supposed to call IT.  However, our computers are ALL Macs.
> Our IT folks, when confronted with a Mac problem, get nervous and seem to
> stutter alot.  I wanted to connect one of our Macs to the network, so I
> asked for an IP address (I already had the DNS server info, etc.).  They
> (rightfully) wanted to set up the computer for me, so I invited them to
> come to my lab.  When they saw it was a Macintosh, they said (and I quote)
> "That's not supposed to be on our network."  I threw the guy out of my
> lab.  Now we come to setting up a Linux box to web/ftp/AppleShareIP serve.

Point out that anyone with important sites on the Internet use Linux or
Unix (The White House, Amazon, NSA, CIA, EggHead -- after their Winbloz
web server allowed the compromize of 4,000,000 customer credit cards,
time.nist.gov, ...)

Then throw my Real World Linux Security book at him, preferably hard.

Then ask him to present hard facts (not supplied by M$) to backup his claim.

Then insist on an IP address and invite him watch you set up Linux.

You might even suggest that they have an outside network security audit done.

> I put that thing together for $100, with a little help from you guys on
> this list.  When I went to connect it to the network, I didn't ask for any
> help this time because the IT guys said (quote) "we can't have any Linux
> boxes on our network because they're easy to hack and they get hacked all
> the time."  I asked "how many Linux boxes have you connected?"  "One."  It
> was a Toshiba laptop and was, from the sound of it, set up rather poorly.

> The poor guys in IT had no idea how to install Linux, set it up, or
> anything else for that matter.  But you know what the real problem is?
> It's IT management.  They don't want expert professionals on the staff
> (cause they become a threat), so they hire guys who are new to IT and have
> to have their hands held all the time.  When they get somebody good, they
> can't keep them because they won't pay industry-standard wages for IT.
> There are a couple of guys in IT at Emory that I really like to hang with,
> because they're bright, humble, and not afraid to dig in to this stuff and
> LEARN it.  The rest have "deer-in-headlights" mentality.  'nuff said.

The Linux war is fought one system at a time.

> -Bob K.

Bob Toxen
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