* Posts by chipshopman

1 publicly visible post • joined 24 May 2011

Windows on the Desktop? There's a group policy for that

chipshopman
Gates Horns

Policing for no good benefit

Why does the IT community insist on being policemen, treating users like kids and the desktop as though they own it. They don't, it belongs to the people who use it. Treat your users like adults and GPOs aren't needed. This obsession with controlling and locking down the desktop "for the good of the users" must stop. Instead allow them to do what they want and if it goes wrong push down a new image and invest your time and effort in providing good perimeter security so they can play safely.

One of the most irritating things an IT Admin can do is force a screen saver, back screen or home page on to a user. If you don't know how much that drives the individual user mad, you need to spend longer with your users, then consider what to implement.

I've worked in a number of organisations now where by default people have the ability to more or less do what they want, but without admin rights. Fault reporting drops, user happiness goes up and productivity increases (for the users).

Come on, get over yourselves and stop playing the policeman.