Bring your PC to work?

Sun May 9 12:33:52 GMT 2004 Bring your PC to work?

Link: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20040507/1326218_F.shtml

This Techdirt artice asks if people will be expected to supply their own computers for work. I have seen just that with some VPN workers, so the idea may not be completely crazy. The inspiration article was http://management.silicon.com/itpro/0,39024675,39120478,00.htm, which suggested that this could affect the need for IT support staff.

I don't think that will be the case: computers have been getting "easier" for years, but paradoxically that ease of use actually increases support needs, because "easy to use" really just means that necessary complexity is hidden from the user. When something goes wrong, the user is more powerless than ever to correct the problem: an awful lot of drivers could fix an awful lot of problems on early automobiles, but when they break down today, most of us stand by helplessly and wait for AAA.

I think the more interesting aspect of this is that people would be showing up with Macs, Linux boxes and other non-Microsoft platforms. This would mean that companies wishing to have such an environment would have to provide platform neutral apps, which is hardly the usual situation today.

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