
Ask HN: How do IT departments handle diverse operating systems - buskila
We are still using Win7 (and latest MacOS) as the default OS at my workplace. There are roughly 2000 developers in the company and probably around 90% of development is done on Win7.<p>In your experience, how can different Windows versions be managed in such environment? The IT department installs various default packages (VPN, chrome, antivirus, etc...), but not much else and nothing particularly special. All our internal sites (at least the ones that are usually accessed by the developers) work with Chrome.<p>I&#x27;m asking because i&#x27;m trying to come up with arguments to convince the IT people to allow developers to choose their own OS&#x2F;hardware.<p>thanks!
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Spooky23
Don't pitch IT, they typically are focused on whatever nonsense testing or
other process they have.

Pitch the big shots... OSX for execs is a great way to drive this sort of
thing. When they cannot support it, byod is the answer.

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caw
The IT point of view is going to be that a a standard package load out reduces
testing requirements for applications, patches and drivers, provides for a
spare parts inventory, and allows for volume pricing to reduce total cost of
ownership. It also allows for standardized documentation that can be handed
down to lower level technicians. Ultimately IT is a cost center in many
organizations and have continually constricted budgets so things increasing
ongoing costs are seen as a no-go.

When you open up a BYO program you now have to provide for a variety of
configurations, customizations, and drivers that will require debugging. I ran
into an issue where my Microsoft Surfacebook conflicted with my 5GHz wifi,
causing reduced speeds. I fixed it with a registry edit changing driver
settings, but this is now asking your local IT team to figure this out and fix
it x2000 employee configurations It increases the time to repair on all
systems. If a part breaks, how do you repair it? Does the employee handle the
repair process or the company? What security do you enforce on the BYO
configurations to manage your data requirements? Now the IT team isn't the
only team involved, it also needs Security, and probably 3 or 4 levels of
management.

Suppose you take a step back from a full BYO program and just offer an
expanded selection. Instead of the 15" Dell Laptop, you can now get any Dell
business laptop, and have a choice of Win 7 or Win 10. This is more
manageable, will still allow for volume discounts. However, it increases the
testing and documentation demands, in particular with in-house applications.
Some of this is done anyway as a part of full scale operating system upgrades,
but why do this early? There's other projects and things going on, and the
operating system team on IT has their own timeline for testing and vetting
internal applications. If you have 2000 developers you probably have just as
many sales, marketing, accounting, and other support positions, each with
their own applications. If you don't do a full rollout company-wide, a
question that might be asked is why are developers special enough to justify
this treatment when it's good enough for 2000 people? No other complaints have
been heard.

Opening up to even more operating systems, like OSX implement additional cost
and complexity. Adding Linux involves an entirely new skillset that generally
costs more than experienced Windows administrators. You also need to feed
those skills and documentation back down to level 1 & 2 who are going to be
doing the hands-on repairs and issues like connecting to projectors and wifi.

Changing an IT process like this is going to involve multiple levels of
management to justify the budget for increased support and changes in process.
It's not something you can ask even the first line managers for, so I hope
you're prepared for the bureaucracy this will entail going through. It is
doable, IT as an industry is being more accepting of mobile devices and
multiple device configurations. It requires alignment between internal app
developers and IT to support these applications, as well as migrating off old
apps that may require specific combinations, and then diligence with testing
and deployment.

