You can't install anything that hasn't been approved. Kinda like the iPhone. Can't download anything to a flash drive either, or send attachment in email other than the official company. Can't use google docs, but can use gmail.
Right. That, I've seen, and that, I understand.
We can't install anything, because there is no approved list. Ability to install or update is completely locked down.
Yay, gub'ment.
Since working here I've noticed 100 ways a public institution functions so much differently than the private world. At least in part, it's because the private world has to become good at doing things, or the company doesn't survive. A government institution doesn't have that problem. No matter how slow, inefficient, or wasteful we are, we'll just keep plugging along, because we don't depend on being good at what we do to survive.
It's not just the wider operation of the place, it's an attitude that filters to employees as well. People put in actual work here, and as far as I can tell are good at their jobs. But we ain't hustling like other jobs I've had. In the corporate world, higher ups need people performing jobs efficiently to generate revenue. In my world, higher ups need us complying with state and federal regulations, because that's what generates our revenue.
Totally different mindset.
It makes the most sense to me for a company to approve a list of software, and let their employees install it if necessary, like yours. But if you have a state-controlled budget that must be spent, and maybe you need to hire some more people to fulfill that requirement (maybe IT people), maybe you need more justification for having them here. You can create more work for them by allowing the other employees to do less. I don't know that that's what it is. But it wouldn't surprise me.