Matthew GarrettJun 16, 2023
Hot take: your desire to run your choice of OS on your work laptop does not trump my desire to ensure the safety of data belonging to our users
Show threadSaphira Lohikäärmekettunen Jun 16, 2023
@mjg59 what if my efficiency diminishes a lot with any OS choice given by the company (or you in this case)?
Should this at least be a reason for you to make it work reasonably safe but not just "take this OS and none other"?
Show threadMatthew GarrettJun 16, 2023
@littlefox if your employer can't support an OS that allows you to work effectively then it's time to find another employer, just as in any other case where employer policies interfere with your ability to do work
Show threadMatthew GarrettJun 16, 2023
@littlefox if the default is just to allow anything then you end up with someone insisting on Windows XP and then their prod creds getting stolen and now you're going to have a bad day
Show threadMatthew GarrettJun 16, 2023
@littlefox And if instead you want IT to support managing an additional range of special-cased OSes then you may improve some developer efficiency but at a significant cost to IT and security efficiency
Show threadSaphira Lohikäärmekettunen Jun 16, 2023

@mjg59 it's a hard trade-off between cost and developer efficiency

I get the need to restrict developer (or any user) choice, but also really get the need for "the tools I work with fast", the frustration from not being able to use them

It's hard

Had such a discussion with our CEO some weeks ago, but we didn't find a way to easily resolve this

Show threadMatthew Garrett
@littlefox I'm enthusiastic about the goal being to find a way that lets developers work effectively without compromising on security (there's no point in security if nobody can do their job!), but the solution can't be for developers to assert they have the right to choose an arbitrary os
Jun 16, 2023 at 6:26pmWeb