Do you allow iTunes?

phoeneous

I'm redoing our Acceptable Use Policy and I'm trying to decide if I should add iTunes to the approved software list. It has no work related purpose, strictly for leisure purposes. We are a smb of less than 100 users. Thoughts?

[Deleted User]

I personally don't see any room for iTunes on company computers. It wastes hard disk space with users personal files. I just don't see anything positive that can come out of having iTunes on the computers. Naive users may end up storing music files on the server, there are ways to prevent this but if it isn't currently configured this is a possibility. It also exposes the company to other risks, I think it would be more of an administrative burden than anything.

Daniel333

If you have the authority, you want to get any app that doesn't have a business need off your desktops. Quicktime, iTunes you name it. Patching 3rd party apps is a pain.

tiersten

Nope. Not allowed at all. Company phones aren't iPhones so can't get in via that either.

As Daniel333 said, you want to minimise the amount of software you've got installed. Dealing with Windows updates is enough hassle. You don't want to also have to deal with the Apple software updater that does iTunes and QuickTime.

Plantwiz

phoeneous wrote: »

I'm redoing our Acceptable Use Policy and I'm trying to decide if I should add iTunes to the approved software list. It has no work related purpose, strictly for leisure purposes. We are a smb of less than 100 users. Thoughts?

As already stated...Any app that doesn't assist the employee to complete their assigned task(s)...NOT ALLOWED.

This makes it really easy to 'format:reinstall' a box that will take too long to troubleshoot (i.e. if an employee box begins to act strange and you cannot diagnosis and correct the problem timely (whatever is appropiate in your environment) then format:reinstall or apply the image...keeps all working

Ideally, you'd have a spare box that you can drop in where you pulled the ailing machine...but some companies stil won't do that.

blargoe

We don't allow the software at all.

chrisone

Allow itunes , youtube, facebook, myspace, and p2p file sharing apps lol j/k

cablegod

Hmm, we allow everything that's legal. No filtering what so ever on outbound web traffic either. Yes, we're a very liberal shop, and our developers generally are savvy enough to handle most things on their own. We trust them, and their work more than shows their appreciation. I know, we're lucky. It's very rare that we have any issues related to third party software outside the norm.

RobertKaucher

Be aware that you are stepping into a potential political mine field by denying users something they have always had. Make sure that you do some sort of expectation management before hand.

I have 5 iPhone users but I would never consider blanket banning something like itunes for the other users as it is just a war I have neither the time nor the resources to wage. Sometimes you have to pick your battles.

Of course that is my situtation. Yours might be different.

loxleynew

We allow everything lol. However it doesn't seem to be a problem. Keep in mind banning everything non work related leads people to become disgruntled. Serious. Some things I can see like youtube or myspace/facebook but things like itunes or pandora would be overkill. You have a small business of 100 users so maybe 1 or 2 of those 100 will have excessive music on their computer. Worth the hassle in my opinion to keep people at least not unhappy.

In case your argument is then people can bring in radios. Yea right that wont happen....

veritas_libertas

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Be aware that you are stepping into a potential political mine field by denying users something they have always had. Make sure that you do some sort of expectation management before hand.

Robert is very right on this. It's always dangerous to rock the status quo. If you are going to get it banned be sure you get management support for this. Oh, and if your boss or any of the VPs has an iPhone don't even try

We currently tolerate it. They don't have access to update their podcasts, so it's really not a bandwidth issue for us. On the other hand it's forbidden by policy, but we don't make a big deal about it unless an issue comes up.

brad-

I wouldnt do it unless directed to. Even though it is for entertainment, some companies let people take breaks at their desk...and it would be good for morale. Supervisors might want to know to not let it be abused, but I wouldnt ban it.

It really depends on the company. I think for a small tight knit company its fine. The bigger the company, the more problems you would have with bandwidth, storage, etc.

qwertyiop

I keep them from our workstations, well atleast I try. The only person that has it installed is one of our VP's

phoeneous

loxleynew wrote: »

Worth the hassle in my opinion to keep people at least not unhappy..

This is where I stand. I think the only hassle involved is updates which is the only thing keeping me from doing it.

Synthros

One client I worked for only allowed its customers to have iTunes installed if they had a company-provided iPhone. By default, the client did not allow any 3rd-party installations on their machines (per Group Policy), so the customer would need to have the IT support group install iTunes if they met the criteria.

rsutton

I have users that have iTunes installed, not a problem. Most of my clients are SMB's under 100 users. We can spare the disk space and there arn't enough users to where this has ever been a headache.

I would not deploy this for larger organisations for the reasons stated above.