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> Are Googlers not allowed to directly control their own computers? First, if the computer is provided by the company, for company work, they're not "their own

> Are Googlers not allowed to directly control their own computers? First, if the computer is provided by the company, for company work, they're not "their own computers." They're the company's computers. And I don't know about Google, but yes it is VERY common in most mid- to large-size organizations that employees are not allowed to change things on the machines they use for work. The IT department is usually required by either contracts or regulation to follow certain security standards and many of those prohibit end-user modification of machines. And further, these are often enforced through annual, semi-annual, or quarterly audits. Failure to follow these standards can result in the loss of a sales contract, a critical certification, or fines. So, just like a manufacturing worker is not allowed to modify a machine on the factory floor (even to fix it, or improve it, regardless of their skill to do so), employees are not allowed to modify the organization's computing equipment. And, it's important to note, the IT department generally has NO say in these rules since they are a business or legal requirement. Edited to add: I've also worked in companies where the developers who write the in-house software might be masters of the business problem domain and their programming language, but have exactly ZERO knowledge of hardware or the most basic system administration principles. It doesn't cross their mind that RAM and disk space are actually finite things, for example, and that it makes for a Bad Day when one of their programs starts to consume ALL of it. These are the people who should not really be managing their own operating systems at work.

mistrial9 4y ago
I gave a demo in Mountain View of some excellent viz, on their big screen in some room. I wanted to make some tiny change to (plug something in) edit no not a new device, being polite, I suggested to move a device of theirs already on that network, closer to the overhead projector .. the alarm, consternation and definite NO that rippled through the three quickly-relaying employees there, was literally like an electric current. I was amazed that they couldn't change even the smallest thing, ever. of course I was trying to get my brilliant colleague without a degree, noticed with that code; zero response, like stonewall. Later I read, that year Google got over 1million job applications. weird place
- lupire 4y ago
  What kind of change?
- dsl 4y ago
  > I suggested to move a device of theirs already on that network, closer to the overhead projector What you didn't know is that it wouldn't work. There is also an expectation that you don't just randomly start changing things in shared conference rooms. If there is an issue, you open a GUTS ticket and someone comes and solves the problem. Chances are if you discovered a real issue, there are 90 other rooms with the same issue that also would be updated.
- dekhn 4y ago
  What were you trying to connect? Connecting to an ethernet port wouldn't work as they use ethernet authentication. Connecting to the projector's input ports instead of using Meet to present? Certainly something I wouldn't have protested if somebody external was giving a demo, back when I worked there.
closeparen 4y ago
Which business and legal requirements, do you think, bind most small and medium enterprises to lock down workstations while engineers across Silicon Valley have root on their MacBooks from huge important companies?
- number6 4y ago
  Money for lawyers
- easton 4y ago
  Google doesn’t let devs store IP on their workstations except in very rare circumstances (per this thread and the BeyondCorp papers), and in those rare circumstances I’m willing to bet you either don’t have root or there’s way more auditing turned on. Most bigcos are the same way, there’s a way to get root but there’s also security software or policies to counteract damage you could do. With most hardcore “zero-trust” setups you consider a device’s posture based on its current state and don’t take into account whether or not the user has admin rights (what do you care how what rights they used to install bad software, you just care that they installed bad software). No admin rights typically means nobody has time to do something better for end users or there’s a regulatory requirement (at the same time, bigcos can throw a sandboxed VM up in their data center that can’t access PII if devs need more access).
deleted 4y ago
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mistrial9 4y ago

I gave a demo in Mountain View of some excellent viz, on their big screen in some room. I wanted to make some tiny change to (plug something in) edit no not a new device, being polite, I suggested to move a device of theirs already on that network, closer to the overhead projector .. the alarm, consternation and definite NO that rippled through the three quickly-relaying employees there, was literally like an electric current. I was amazed that they couldn't change even the smallest thing, ever. of course I was trying to get my brilliant colleague without a degree, noticed with that code; zero response, like stonewall. Later I read, that year Google got over 1million job applications. weird place

lupire 4y ago
What kind of change?
dsl 4y ago
> I suggested to move a device of theirs already on that network, closer to the overhead projector What you didn't know is that it wouldn't work. There is also an expectation that you don't just randomly start changing things in shared conference rooms. If there is an issue, you open a GUTS ticket and someone comes and solves the problem. Chances are if you discovered a real issue, there are 90 other rooms with the same issue that also would be updated.
dekhn 4y ago
What were you trying to connect? Connecting to an ethernet port wouldn't work as they use ethernet authentication. Connecting to the projector's input ports instead of using Meet to present? Certainly something I wouldn't have protested if somebody external was giving a demo, back when I worked there.

closeparen 4y ago

Which business and legal requirements, do you think, bind most small and medium enterprises to lock down workstations while engineers across Silicon Valley have root on their MacBooks from huge important companies?

number6 4y ago
Money for lawyers
easton 4y ago
Google doesn’t let devs store IP on their workstations except in very rare circumstances (per this thread and the BeyondCorp papers), and in those rare circumstances I’m willing to bet you either don’t have root or there’s way more auditing turned on. Most bigcos are the same way, there’s a way to get root but there’s also security software or policies to counteract damage you could do. With most hardcore “zero-trust” setups you consider a device’s posture based on its current state and don’t take into account whether or not the user has admin rights (what do you care how what rights they used to install bad software, you just care that they installed bad software). No admin rights typically means nobody has time to do something better for end users or there’s a regulatory requirement (at the same time, bigcos can throw a sandboxed VM up in their data center that can’t access PII if devs need more access).

deleted 4y ago

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