So, long story short, pretty soon the emails were bouncing around to our lan guys, other managers, and eventually IT Security. Ya, that's not cool at all. I don't want to attract people who manage IT security for 10k users, but it was too late. Thankfully with my help of my mangager and another one, we were able to bring it out as a miss-communication, which it really was. I screwed up, and I know it. I'll not make suggestions like that again. If I have something helpful, I'll just let my boss know.
Almost everyone agreed that I messed up. Except for one. The lead lan guy in our area came around and told me to forget it, and if I have any more helpful suggestions, to make them. I felt really good after he did that. I don't want to work in a place where I feel like I should not make suggestions, that they will get trashed. Suggestions should and will be made in the future. I just have to do it through the proper channels though. Lesson learned (hopefully). ;-)
Listening to: Buddy Holly - Maybe Baby
Gotta love turf wars. You'll get more than your fair share in the government, so you should get used to it.
ReplyDeleteThe person that goofed is the one that asked YOU whether or not it was OK to install it. How long have you been there? Do you manage the network? No, it's not your problem. Besides, if your computer will let you install it, then you can install it. Otherwise they would have locked your machine down. Secondly, why raise such a fuss about a stupid FREE utility? Does that guy realise how much of other people's time he wasted doing that?
Next time that happens say "ok, here's the thing you asked about" and then just leave it. Everything else is out of your hands anyway. Be helpful, but when it comes to whether the software is 'approved' or not, redirect them to IT. I don't see what they could blame you for in that situation ... what are they, the thought police?
It wasn't a turf war, and I didn't get blamed for anything. I think that it's more the fact that it seemed that I don't understand network security and what it means.
ReplyDeleteReally, you are not supposed to install any sw. You're not even supposed to have mp3's on your computer. I think that in part it is liability issues, and for installing sw, it's so that people don't install malicious sw or unsecured sw. Webshots was banned a while ago 'cause it had a "screen lock" screen saver, but if you just hit "cancel" when prompted for your password, it let you in anyways.
As for simple utilities or games or whatever, remember in security class where they talked about games that had hidden parts that would check if you had root access and would open up a back door if they did? I guess they don't want that kind of stuff.
Yes, developers are given a lot more leeway than "users", but I still don't want to attract any negative attention.
As long as you don't give someone tacit "permission" to install the software in question, I think you'll be OK with pointing people to free tools.
ReplyDeleteHow did you "mess up" then, if they aren't blaming you? I don't get it.
I think that it's cause I more or less told a non technical person about software and it came out like I was suggesting they install it. Since they thought this, and it was "against the rules", it seemed like I didn't know the rules.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that really anyone cares about it, I just feel like I should have known better on this issue than suggesting sw. Some people understand the implications of installing sw that's on the net, others do not.
I'm sure that it has been all forgotten now, but I just felt like I did something wrong, even if I didn't. Ya, it makes no sense. *sigh*
You can show people to the gun store if they ask about it but if they shoot themselves in the foot, that's their problem.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be everyone's conscience or guardian. Sometimes you just have to let Darwin's theories take their course. :)
Hey,
ReplyDeleteCouldn't help over-hearing your conversation. :-P I work for the Government as a developer, and all I can say is that I don't give technical suggestions to Non-techie people. Too much shit can go wrong. Trust me, if there's a way to screw it up, they find it, and act on it with or with knowing what they're doing.
As for giving suggestions, I haven't told many people this, but I've gotten atleast 4 of the developers in my group to switch from IE to FireFox. I also showed them the extensions page. Improving the tool set of your fellow colleagues is an excellent way of showing that you actually care whether or not your co-worker gets his job done in an easier manner. Go ahead, make suggestions. It's good for everyone. If it's a bad one, then someone will let you know, and that's as bad as it gets.
That was a very simple suggestion. As well, I try and follow the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to installing software on my computer. We all have mp3's, but we don't advertise to people.
Anyways, I'm rambled on....don't feel so bad. Everyone messes up. That's why us humans suck ass and need to make computers! :-P
hee hee... thanks roy, that's good advice. I think that my trouble at the very start here is that I didn't know who IS technical and who isn't. I'm going by the assumption (now) that everyone isn't technical until I figure out otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't ask them if they are technical, because most people think they are. At other jobs I have had people think that they are technical if they can save their MS Word file as html...
In case anyone is looking for this tool, it is called PDFCreator
ReplyDeletehttp://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/