At a company I work for, they are doing various changes (and control) over the software we install as we transition to a larger company. I believe they are using Microsoft Intune so they can allow/deny what can be installed.

I have not updated my laptop (or got a new one) because I am concerned they will not allow me to install or continue to use Emacs. Honestly, I can vision how that conversation goes:-

[manager]: Hi, so what is Emacs

[me]: Emacs is a text editor I use daily and makes me efficient in my work

[manager]: OK. I would like us to start using Visual Studio Code with the new projects coming up

[me]: Why? The consumption models we are using has no VSCode support, anyway.

[manager]: It would just be good if we are all using the same tools

[me]: It should not matter what we use as long as we work with git and deployment. If someone else is great with a different text editor why force them to use something else?

[manager]: (Looks up emacs)

[manager]: I think its best we stopped using it because it is not supported by Microsoft and we need to be careful with the dangers of open source.

[me]: OK. Should we contact other IT departments to replace any open source tools they use?

[manager]: Its just emacs is not verified software for the business. I think you are complicating things a little (tries to belittle me)

[me]: Emacs is my daily driver! If it goes, I will hand in my resignation!

* Manager is not there to understand or reason.. he is just following orders from other IT departments. *

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kleiba2 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I worked briefly in public administration at one point in my career. I asked the admins the same thing, could I get Emacs installed on my machine. I got a bit concerned when the admin staff asked back: "What is Emacs?"

	▲	bitwize 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I was a bit surprised when about ten years ago I noticed that there were now really only two reactions to my Emacs use: "Emacs? What's that? Oh, sorry, I like things with an actual UI." Or: "Emacs? I remember that from my DEC days. I'm surprised it's still around!"

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ks6g10 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I scheduled my intune upgrade when I needed a week off for doing house moving stuff. I was told Emacs would work, didn't. Took them about a week before I could use it again.

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znpy 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Back in the day when i had a windows laptop for work you could just download the windows binary distribution of emacs and run that, has something changed?

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masfoobar 2 hours ago | parent [-]

This is what I do when I use Windows. However, in recent years, I tend to use Emacs via WSL.

However, I believe Microsoft Intune is used within the Business to control what software can and cannot be installed. So my guess is Windows won't allow you to install via a typical .exe

I am not suggesting the above is 100% valid. I just don't want to get a new laptop and find out. Maybe I can still use Emacs via WSL... bypassing Intune????

At the end of the day, I understand Security is getting much more serious in recent years - and we even have a dedicated department - but controlling the software to install is crazy, especially for a development team.

	▲	MarsIronPI 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Does Intune stop you from running any unapproved .exe's? Because IIRC Emacs can run as a "portable" executable that doesn't need to be installed in Program Files. (I don't have any experience with Intune so pardon my ignorance.)

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jhghbj 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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