Woud YOU approve my request after reading this?
UPDATE 6/4/07
OK, so I've drafted a request to the IT Director, and included my Director and that of our Support group, as well as the division President. Comments welcome...
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(IT Director) -
After a number of years operating in a multi-machine/multi-operating system environment, I am now in a position to offer (Company) a beneficial opportunity. In light of my mobility, remoteness from the office environment and position within (Company) Training, there are a number of initiatives I would like to undertake that make me bring the proposal forward.
Briefly, because in changes to available hardware and software, my new duties and opportunities, and the ability to increase both my productivity and value to the customer and (Company), I would like to use a personally owned Apple MacBook notebook computer — in a fully native Microsoft Windows XP environment under the administrative control of IT — as my primary work machine within the (Company) network environment in full cooperation with your Department.
As I am sure you are aware, all current Apple systems are Intel-based, and are capable of the installation and operation of any x86 Operating System, including the entire Microsoft Windows family, in a fully hardware-native manner. They are, in effect, a Windows PC.
Understandably, you are likely skeptical (at best) and quite possibly appalled at the thought. Please allow me to present what I hope is a reasonable justification for this proposal.
• Benefits to (Company).
o There are immediate potential cost savings to (Company), in that this would release one company-issued Dell back into the available pool for issue. Let me add that I do not expect any reimbursements or financial support of any kind in this; all costs will be borne by me.
o This would minimize the already low impact of IT support to me, in addition to completely removing any hardware maintenance, support, or warrantee repair from the IT Department. The only support would be for (Company)-supplied Operating Systems and applications, as is currently the case with company-issued laptops.
o Because of a number of work-related initiatives I have undertaken with regards to (Company) Training, there are a number of applications and productivity tools that I use that are Macintosh-native. The ability to have this environment available to me both on the road and at home provides a substantial productivity enhancement, allowing for independent projects anywhere/anytime.
o (Company) Services and Support gain the ability to have access to all my resources wherever I am physically, as all projects, regardless of the platform they are based on, are immediately available to me.
• Benefits to the Customer
o Many of our Customers are Mac-centric (not surprising in the Higher Ed market), and in point of fact, some do not allow Windows-based machines on the campus network without prior approval. This provides me the ultimate in flexibility to work in the campus environment and on their network without undue difficulty.
o As well over 200 of our Customers are on our Unix-based (Company) application; this would give me additional ease of operating with them. As the Macintosh OS is Unix-based (with the same common parent as HP-UX), terminal connections and operating environment cohesiveness are very fluid and transparent, requiring no client software.
• Benefits to me
o I am, in addition to my responsibilities to the (Company) Training Group, developing a number of different deliverables, including podcasts, audio/video productions for web delivery or downloadable as QuickTime files, audio/video chat in addition to existing WebEx capabilities, and others. Much of this is in the nascent stages of development and validation, and as most of this is being produced using Macintosh-native applications, I am currently spending personal hours at home that are already occupied with work-related pre- and post-engagement administrative tasks. The ability to continue this work while on the road (currently 35-40 weeks per year) would be a substantial boon to my personal productivity.
• IT Concerns
o I understand that one of the major concerns in this is the lack of IT oversight of the machine in general and the operating environment in particular. To that end, I will release control and grant IT sole Administrator rights to the NTFS partition & Operating System. My suggestion is to place a standard (Company) image onto the partition, rather than attempting to install applications directly.
o In addition to maintaining compliance with all IT directives regarding laptop security to protect company data and systems, I will also see to an equal or greater level of security to the Macintosh operating environment. As the Windows environment will be NTFS, the Macintosh environment will be unable to write to or make changes to that partition.
o Connections to the (Company) network either directly or via VPN would only be through the Windows operating environment, using (Company)-provided tools.
o I would also be willing to undertake this on a limited or trial basis until you & your staff can gain sufficient confidence and comfort that this would pose no additional burden or exposure to the Blackboard networks.
o I would be happy to discuss any additional requirements you or the IT staff may feel necessary to ensure the integrity of the (Company) network.
I realize this is not they type of request you would be normally inclined to view positively, particularly in light of the need to maintain as homogeneous an environment as possible. I hope that I have addressed your concerns sufficiently to at least continue the discussion and further IT requirements to accomplish this.
Please feel free to contact me at your convenience. Rest assured that while I feel strongly about this, I also want you to feel comfortable in the fact that I will endeavor to meet any requirements placed on this arrangement. Thanks for your consideration in this matter.
), partitioning off about 40GB for an NTFS partition and XPSP2 install.
