you wrote on Thu, 13 May 2004 08:40:47 -0400:
... Long story short, at least one of these has turned out to be unreliable for long term use, so now I'm given the nod to buy something akin to the standard-issue current workstation.
... The IT line is, 'If it plugs into the network, it must include these licenses'. Plus, W2K is no longer an option, so it comes with WinXPPro, and if you reload the OS, you're unsupported.
I'm just curious ... Are you free to buy your own hardware if it goes on the corporate network, or do you get what's offered? (Usually, I'm more concerned with things like how many open PCI slots the thing has...)
Dave,
a couple of comments.
1. Your IT is dreaming. Period.
If you ever have bought a modern PC-based equipment (maybe a gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer or even a medical device), you do not get the option to choose what HW and SW to buy and operate that machine and system with. It is part of the device and you have to get it completely or get nothing. And you'd loose a lot of functionality if you'd deny LAN access for this control PC.
2. Modern PCs and especially those from '(H)ell' here in Germany tend to have a worsened reliability, caused by the immense cost pressure. A big multimedia supply chain here in Germany had the advertising slogan 'Geiz ist geil!' - 'Stinginess is whizzy!'.
So I'd prefer to try to get this old machine repaired rather than buying a new one. If however I'd buy a new one I'd make sure it gets all support thats offered.
3. You may, however, buy a little switch and use this to prevent a logical connection between the PC in question and your corporate LAN. So it is'nt on the network or at least IT can't see it. You can use your WS to access data on that PC and even use it as a kind of logical gateway (if it's behind the very same switch, of course).
4. We here at getemed have the experience that XP can be as a good base for LV than 2k was. BUT: you have to regularely apply all security fixes and update your virus patterns and run a firewall that opens just what is essentially to your app. So a lot of work for a single person. Thats why my laptop (running XP) does not go into the 'wild' internet others that protected by our ITs infrastructure. Period!
Just my € 0.02!
Greetings from Germany! -- Uwe Frenz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Uwe Frenz Entwicklung getemed Medizin- und Informationtechnik AG Oderstr. 59 D-14513 Teltow
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