What are an end-user’s responsibilities?

Dear Bob …

I agree with your proposition (maybe I state it a little differently) that the majority of business users are professional people, reasonably intelligent, and intent on doing a good job [see “The portal,” (2/25/2008) and subsequent columns in Keep the Joint Running, and recent discussions in Advice Line – Bob].

My questions are, since not all users are created equal, and at least a small percentage are not computer-friendly at all, how does that fit in this model.

Should businesses be expected to hire only people who have at least a minimal relationship with their PC? We still have users here who have no computer at home!

And what happens when those users click on the anti-spyware ad and unlease the latest Trojan horse — will they be responsible for reloading their operating system because it can’t properly be cleaned? Should the business and IT bear the burden of that, or how do you envision that working?? When you go to that user and tell them that your ID system indicates their machine is acting as part of a botnet, what happens when they give you that blank stare and ask “What do I do now?”

I’m not saying the goal isn’t a worthy one, I just can’t see quite how it works yet.

– Interested but not convinced

Dear Convinceable …

First of all, yes. I’m of the opinion that in 2008 a knowledge worker who doesn’t know how to competently operate a PC is better called an ignorance worker. There are, of course, exceptions (I’m not sure what they are, but there are always exceptions). For the most part, a knowledge worker who doesn’t know how to operate a PC is like a carpenter who can’t handle a compound miter saw — not competent.

Second, for years I’ve advocated a simple approach: If an end-user does something to render his/her PC non-functional, IT’s responsibility is to restore it to a standard image, then to restore the data. In an age of virtual machines, this is even easier, and far less time-consuming, than restoring to a ghosted image.

– Bob