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07/14/2004: "If IT likes it, then FUCK-IT"

Doc points to an article by D.C. Stultz titled Is it the age of DIY IT. In the article, D.C. concludes:

They own the network. And they own the servers. You can't do any DIY projects without access to both.

You can't sneak a connection to their network without getting caught. You cannot get the data you need unless you are connected to the network. You can do all of the fancy Excel spreadsheets you want, but you can't do much else. You can't put a Linux computer on your desktop, because they won't allow it. You can't get a specialized software package for your PC unless they bless it. With the managed desktop software they run, you can't do anything without them knowing -- when I save to my C: drive on my work computer, the file actually goes out over the network to the server my PC is connected to and then back to my PC. (Yeah, I know, I think making my PC a fancy VT terminal is dumb too.)

IT is back in total control. They own the network. They own the servers and all of the data. They manage your PC remotely. Do It Yourself is dead in the corporate environment.

And to paraphrase Andy Rooney: "IT likes that."

I think there are two bits of technology that the CIO will not control, no matter how hard she tries: 802.11 and the big-I "Internet"

Its likely that many readers (both of you) have already reached for the "rogue AP" response. IT departments are notorious for their response to 'foreign" 802.11 APs being attached to the corporate network. Some places will metaphoricly slap your knuckles with a ruler, acting out certain repressed fantasies of "Sister Mary Catherine", having themselves been subject to the tender mercy of a large, well-muscled, celibate woman with no wardrobe choices and some fairly serious psycho-sexual issues. Others will just kick your ass to the curb, affording you a fine opportunity to scrub your resume and find new digs.

But what if you didn't attach the AP to the precious (santified) "corporate network"?

What if it just stood there, powered up, spraying its 2.4GHz through the walls, and offering a conduit through which your department members can communicate with each other? This would be a community network for the people you work with, and who amoung us doesn't spend more time at work than at home? Hell people, I found my lovely wife at work.

What if it was, in reality a ... linux machine with a wireless card, and on that linux machine there were (hush now), "applications"? blogs? websites?

"Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy."

Such things are relatively EZ to do. "Linux Journal" published an entire issue on building your own 802.11 networks, and covers the basics of turning your linux box into a fully-compliant 802.11 (AP). These days, a linux-powered AP can do everything than an AP from Cisco or Enterasys can, and more.

If your department is too large for a single AP to provide coverage, either get the the people you don't like fired, (neked photos of the CIO's spouse as their desktop wallpaper are one idea), or mesh two or more APs together to provide a larger network. This too should be relatively straigh-forward, once you've accomplished the above. Heck, even if you want to run Windows, Microsoft has paved the way.

The other thing to note, of course, is that its not necessary to host workgroup (or even enterprise) applications inside the corporate firewall. HTTP seems to be the universal solvent of Internet protocols these days (with perl playing the part of duct tape). Outside of a few "secure" environments, most corporations today find that they have to provide a "web" connection to the desktop, even if browsing is 'filtered' (or watched), and the IP connection is deliberately severed at the firewall. They had to hook you and your computer in, because thats where the customers and suppliers are.

This being the case, get yerself a hosted server, or buy space on one. Don't know how to run Apache, buy a book, or just ask around on any of the uncountable web forums. I've seen prices for hosted space as low as $9.99/mo for access to web server with all the bells and whistles. If your content is about work, and your work isn't making or researching pornography, or promoting "terrorism", then its unlikely to be something that a hostiing provider would refuse to deal with.

To me, DIY-IT isn't about the corporate MIS shoppe saving costs by running linux or deploying applications before the second coming. The MIS/IT/IS goolag will shit itself without SLAs and their attendent ability to shift blame. Sarbanes-Oxley is a tool that MIS will use to reject anything they can't molest into bigger budgets.

DIY-IT is about finding new ways of exploiting technology to overcome enslavement at the hands of the corporate IT nitwits. Gibson said it best, "the street finds its own use for things."

Your MIS department probably couldn't find its ass in the dark with both hands and a flashlight.