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Regardless of the Linux requirement, these things stood out to me: "only allowing local development on those machines" "insecure systems (e.g. HD encryption is

Regardless of the Linux requirement, these things stood out to me: "only allowing local development on those machines" "insecure systems (e.g. HD encryption is a must)" That kind of restriction had better come with laws mandating it. I would not work for a company that doesn't trust me to use my own machines to do work. I think that you're worrying about "managing radically different laptop models" shows that you aren't trusting your devs to be competent enough to manage their own machines.

wisty 16y ago
I'd guess that HD encryption is there to prevent theft of data if a laptop gets left in an airport lounge. It's a bit paranoid (really, nobody's trying to steal your source unless you are very successful), but it's not a terrible idea.
pmjordan 16y ago
Requiring hard disk encryption doesn't sound unreasonable to me, especially considering the speed and convenience impact these days is pretty minimal. Laptops are stolen/lost all the time. That said, I'd be hesitant to work for a company that demanded I use specific software for no apparent reason. There are plenty of good reasons, of course, though it's not clear whether any apply in this case. Either way, I don't think I'd tolerate not being root on my development box.
bad_user 16y ago
> you aren't trusting your devs to be competent enough to manage their own machines I can manage my own Linux machine and have been doing it for the last 7 years, but it would be nice to have someone competent enough in the company to which I can delegate such tasks. Considering the shit you have to do to get some hardware working properly on Linux, having a standard selection of hardware is actually pretty good (I have been giving this advice for years), and if that means the company "doesn't trust" me, then I could do without that trust. Also any company will also have administrative personnel or sales/marketing people, i.e. not everyone is a Linux-guru. And going Linux (instead of OS X / Windows) makes sense for a startup since it reduces the costs involved, but that's only if you can fix your employees problems with their setup, otherwise it becomes a serious time-sink.

wisty 16y ago

I'd guess that HD encryption is there to prevent theft of data if a laptop gets left in an airport lounge. It's a bit paranoid (really, nobody's trying to steal your source unless you are very successful), but it's not a terrible idea.

pmjordan 16y ago

Requiring hard disk encryption doesn't sound unreasonable to me, especially considering the speed and convenience impact these days is pretty minimal. Laptops are stolen/lost all the time. That said, I'd be hesitant to work for a company that demanded I use specific software for no apparent reason. There are plenty of good reasons, of course, though it's not clear whether any apply in this case. Either way, I don't think I'd tolerate not being root on my development box.

bad_user 16y ago

> you aren't trusting your devs to be competent enough to manage their own machines I can manage my own Linux machine and have been doing it for the last 7 years, but it would be nice to have someone competent enough in the company to which I can delegate such tasks. Considering the shit you have to do to get some hardware working properly on Linux, having a standard selection of hardware is actually pretty good (I have been giving this advice for years), and if that means the company "doesn't trust" me, then I could do without that trust. Also any company will also have administrative personnel or sales/marketing people, i.e. not everyone is a Linux-guru. And going Linux (instead of OS X / Windows) makes sense for a startup since it reduces the costs involved, but that's only if you can fix your employees problems with their setup, otherwise it becomes a serious time-sink.