[brlug-general] Active Directory Mandated at LSU

[Tim Fournet]

You're right, but the way I understand it, LSU isn't even mandating that 
users choose a particular product. All they're saying is "IF you use 
Windows, it's gotta be part of our Active Directory. Why? Because 
Windows is so insecure, and viruses run so rampant, that putting them 
into AD is the only way we can exercise some sort of control over their 
behavior." Putting a Windows box into AD allows them to set policies 
pretty much every setting in the OS. It can set Windows Firewall 
options, it can force installation of AntiVirus software, it can limit 
users from installing malware, and it can enforce a minimum password 
complexity, among many many other things. If anything, one can infer 
from this mandate that Windows is a bad choice, but if you're going to 
make it, LSU is going to do what it can to minimize the amount of damage 
it will do to their network.

To me this statement is in agreement with Will's assertion that Windows 
is inherently insecure, but it also doesn't fully take that choice away 
from the people who still want to use Windows.

B. Estrade wrote:
> By mandating that a person or orgranization only use software from a 
> particular source, you are taking away the right to choose - and THAT 
> is the real evil in this situation. You need to realize that our 
> economy is based on consumer choice, and you are advocating the 
> elimination of this choice. You and I may not like the company, their 
> practices, or the product, but I would rather have the right to choose 
> (a crappy product) than allow myself to be spoonfed something because 
> it is someone else's moral imperative.