Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!samsung!merrimack.edu!rand
From: rand@merrimack.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Tips for Macs on a student network
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.220228.22046@merrimack.edu>
Date: 18 Jun 91 22:02:28 GMT
References: <13187@uwm.edu> <7621@bgsuvax.UUCP>
Organization: Merrimack College, No. Andover, MA
Lines: 28

In article <7621@bgsuvax.UUCP>, dnebing@bgsuvax.UUCP (David Nebinger) writes:
> From article <13187@uwm.edu>, by datta@vacs.uwp.edu (David Datta):
>>   Lock all of the files in the system folder that you don't want messed
>>   up, (I.E. EVERYTHING) put gatekeeper and gatekeeper aid on all of
>>   them and lock out the disable buttons.
>> 

> What everything boils down to is that the typical sys-admin person will try
> to make the machine "quasi-untamperable".  This is typically the wrong
> approach to setting up a lab.  Any defaults you set can be changed by
> a student who really wants to do so.

I think you're missing the point here. You `tamper-proof' a
workstation so the naive user doesn't screw it up--not to keep people
from playing. In any event, by taking these measures you have made it
necessary for people to HAVE to try to screw it up INTENTIONALLY. At
our school we've strictly defined that this is a no-no and the 'rents
will be disappointed that you got your butt kicked out of school. 

> A much better approach would be to teach everyone about the Mac.  Not just
> how to run MacWrite or some other applications, but also the finer points.

Ideally. We don't have the human resources to do this, does anyone?
Techies (of which I am one) often forget that not everyone needs to
know what TrueType is. Does your wife know what a MacPherson strut is?
She just wants to get herself from point A to point B--just like me.
I'm going to get $9,900 worth out of my $10,000 car. The rest isn't
worth my time.