IT Practice Within Microsoft

SilentChris writes "Good article over at CNet regarding Microsoft's internal IT practices. Some intriguing statements from the CIO, from the obvious ('It's an easy choice for me--to run Microsoft technology. We don't run Unix. We don't run Linux. We don't run Oracle.') to the not-so-obvious ('Our users are the admins of their machines. They can load whatever software they want on their machines, but we do audit the network continuously.') I wonder how much time is spent combatting spyware?"

Longhorn?

[kmmatthews]

I wonder how much time is spent combatting spyware?

Aha! So that's why longhorn is taking so many years to write..

I wouldn't want that guy's job

[Trekologer]

I'm sure his relatives call him up constantly when their computer has problems.

Misquoted

[HungWeiLo]

"We don't run Linux....we run GNU/Linux"

I wonder...

[Vvornth]

I bet Microsoft has a panic button on all their computers sporting Firefox, *nix and BSD that immediately displays a WinXP desktop.

Comedy...

[NecroPuppy]

users are the admins of their machines.

So even Microsoft has realized you can't do crap under a limited login in XP.

No surprise here

[poot_rootbeer]

Of COURSE they allow users to admin their own machines at Microsoft. Half of their software won't run correctly in XP unless the user has Administrator privileges.

Software Audits?

[EdwinBoyd]

"Well Johnson, we found the latest build of Firefox on your machine and a copy of OpenOffice. Clear out your desk by noon"

Re:No wonder they're laggin behind...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder what they did with all of their Xenix boxes? That's what DOS and Windows (up to 3.0) were written on, I hear. (Some Windows development on Suns, too?)

Pain

[Icarus1919]

We start with the product group that developed the product, so they feel the pain first. Man, truer words have never been spoken (at least by an MS executive.)

Re:No wonder they're laggin behind...

[nadadogg]

Maybe because this is the company's internal IT practices, basically
I know I'm not the only person who read that as infernal IT practices.

Re:Totally Incoherent Answers

[hunterx11]

The Linux boxes are not here. They are not anywhere. They are segfaulting in the parking lot as we speak. I must now inform you that you are too far from reality.

Re:Longhorn?

[alw53]

At least their marketing department has figured out how dumb it is to name an OS for the year of its anticipated release.

No shock

[overshoot]

Considering that "[e-mail]" is hard-wired into quite a few tools for use with anonymous FTP ...

Re:We don't run Unix. We don't run Linux.

[Keeper]

For their SFU (Services for Unix) [microsoft.com] product. I'm sure the irony or the acronym wasn't lost on the person who came up with the name...

Heh, this is a funny quote

[phozz bare]

"We won't put all 90,000 mailboxes on Exchange beta. [...] We start with the product group that developed the product, so they feel the pain first."

phozz

Re:Comedy...

[FirstTimeCaller]

users are the admins of their machines.

But are they masters of their domain?

I suspect not.

Re:Hmm

[TheAntiCrust]

Thats such a pessimistic way of looking at it. You never know until you ask; some secretaries boxes might be much more readily available then you would first think.

;)

I admin my own box

[Pop69]

I'm an accountant for an insurance firm and I admin my own machine AND the dead rat mail/dns/webserver as well.

That's because all our "technical" people only know how to admin Microsloth products. If a couple of reboots doesn't fix it they re-install from scratch.