Life of a Sysadmin

The occassional trials and tribulations of a jack of all tr ades sysadmin in a startup in Silicon Valley

archives

October 2008 (2)
September 2008 (3)
June 2008 (1)
April 2008 (1)
March 2008 (6)
December 2007 (6)
October 2007 (1)
September 2007 (1)
August 2007 (2)
July 2007 (1)
June 2007 (5)
May 2007 (5)
April 2007 (3)
March 2007 (7)
February 2007 (2)
January 2007 (3)
December 2006 (4)
November 2006 (3)
October 2006 (3)
August 2006 (3)
July 2006 (1)
June 2006 (2)
May 2006 (4)
April 2006 (2)
March 2006 (5)
February 2006 (5)
January 2006 (7)
December 2005 (2)
November 2005 (6)
October 2005 (4)
September 2005 (4)
August 2005 (1)
July 2005 (2)
June 2005 (3)
May 2005 (4)
April 2005 (1)
March 2005 (2)

October 2008

System installation, or licenses for redistribution

Part of my job is to prep Windows laptops for coworkers; it is my goal to provide laptops fully setup, this means among other things, I need to have Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player installed when they recieve the machine. Unfortunately Adobe wishes to make that a little difficult.

The license for Adobe Reader however does not permit me as IT support for an employee to distribute Adobe Reader on a machine I am providing to the employee. Adobe would want me to simply point the employee at the download site for Adobe Reader.

For me to distribute these products, I am supposed to agree to a different license agreement, one intended for distribution. This likely isn't a problem for most as most IT employees, as most never actually read license agreements. My company however has a clear policy that employees are not allowed to agree to contracts without the approval of the lawyers.

Considering that Adobe is interested in having Adobe Reader and Flash Player installed on as many machines as possible, why must they throw additional obstcles in my way?