Lazy administrators!

I had a support call yesterday that I'm filing under the catagory of "Helping a user work around the limitations of the software." Oops, breached the EULA there! A friend wanted to do a presentation at work but was unable to put the required file on a USB drive due to their being a site policy of no USB drives. Because of an IT security policy presumably, i.e. they don’t want a nasty virus. So, my friend had to work around this limitation by burning a CD. Not a very common task for your average web surfin' Office usin' email readin' user and one that needed some guidance to accomplish. Ironically, Microsoft’s website provided the information needed for this work around…

A few things struck me. Obviously the first thing is why on earth is Windows so shonky that merely plugging in a USB stick and doing a presentation gives administrators a fit of the vapours? Additionally, these admins seem to be so relieved they've locked down a possible infection vector they forgot to tell the poor users what to do in order to carry on working as near to normal as possible. Unless they really would be breaching the dreaded EULA.... Also, they should stop basking in the glory of stopping untold viruses, trojans etc. in their tracks and get a system that isn't vulnerable! Even if it's just one for reading and virus checking users' USB drives! It's not hard! Sheesh, I could do it! Linux PC anyone? It would make those lazy administrators' lives so much simpler!