Re: taking deployment/operations considerations into account

Hi,

We have something akin to that.  We develop courseware and courses and 
training for
language schools in China, so we periodically send hardcopy and 
electronic copies of
about 500 files to 12 other sites in China. The Chinese control the shipping
and the servers. We have one server officially and one that they don't 
tell us about
that sits on the floor about 4 meters from my desk. Officially only 
three of us have
access to our files.

The IT manager edits our files to make them "look beautiful."  (He's not 
one of the 'three'.)
Especially the first screen or page in a file. This sometimes includes 
removing things on the first screen/page.

Things like source control just disappear. Or, as another example, I run 
two browsers
to bypass the Great Firewall. Their software locks one to cut web 
access, so I bypass
with a second browser and an anonymiser. And dynamically switch, to see 
dramatic
improvements in access and speed. So one browser will be uninstalled 
overnight.
(They say firefox "causes problems" so they always delete Internet 
Explorer. Go figure.)

There has been a bit of negative feedback to such antics so now the 
Chinese shipping
manager deals directly with us. He recently came into the office and 
told our manager that
her password had just been changed, then told us all what the new 
password is. Of
course we can't change our passwords. We provided a bit more negative 
feedback
so we now have 3 IT support staff and the same 'secure' 
open-to-nutty-managers
server, and the overall manager will take us out to KTV this week.

So the solution is to add more support staff and a whiff of 
entertainment (that
none of the three of us are interested in attending).

Good sound practice?

Al Chou wrote:
> ... (there are plenty of organizations among our customers where the machine/OS-level administrator is not allowed to see the application data, and the application administrator is not
>  allowed administrative access to the OS).
>
> I'm wondering how much such issues are taken into account by the individuals on this mailing list?
>   
bye,
vic

-- 
“The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell, 
there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously 
observed.” -- Grant Gilmore (The Ages of American Law 1977, p. 111)
Vic Williams   13066824980