mtg followup - data

Wed Nov 23 07:23:59 PST 2005

>  (Actually you might find it necessary to put the conference rooms
>  on a segment which is routed or NAT'd to the 'net; so that visiting
>  business associates, guests and customers can access their remote
>  resources therefrom).

This solicitude seems to be peculiar to the US.  In most other places 
I've been in the world (and a minority even inside the US), I was either 
not permitted to connect to a network at all (or sometimes only after 
installing antivirus software, and "It's a Mac!" didn't cut it*), or I 
had to (a) run Windows, AND (b) authenticate myself to their outbound 
firewall as an employee or authorized guest, to get out.  And most of 
the time they didn't authorize guests.  Whatever I needed to do had to 
wait until I got back to my hotel.

I hate to say this, but maybe we should follow their lead, here, 
especially if mystery laptops are causing an active problem on one's 
network.  Tell them to use their cellphones. :-)  Metro wireless will be 
here soon enough, right?

* I downloaded, but somehow neglected to install, some free AV software 
to get around this one.