Some people/companies just want a name to blame if something goes wrong. Rather than requesting the right to install Vim, request the ability to purchase a license for Vim. Many projects have already setup mechanisms to do this or are willing to do so. If this doesn’t work because: ‘A single person who decides what software to approve and disapprove within the organization.’ then go to your manager and also the person or people who decide to how good of a job the “software evaluator” [single person] is doing. Point out a real business need for a particular application: “Vim has XXX feature. It is not available in any other software. If I had this feature, I’d be able to do YYY, which will [save/make] our company $[insert figure here]. Did I mention that it is written by a google employee, and that our competitor, ZZZ is probably going to use it if we don’t? Here’s a list of other companies that use Vim [insert fortune 100 here]. Can you please make [single person] justify why he is putting us at a competitive disadvantage?” Cost is rarely a concern. So save the fact that it is free as an additional argument that you can make if [single person] suggests some other app. If you are passionate enough about your tools, you can always walk—some companies hire talented employees and understand that they will be more productive with their preferred tools. (If you find yourself in such a company, don’t spoil it—produce results with your tools, so that the company will be rewarded for this wisdom.) If you want to be a dick, point to comparisons of some no-name proprietary program that [single person] approved that turned out to have a security hole and that your app does not suffer this hole and try to pull other tricks to demonstrate that [single person] is incompetent.
— by Noksagt (69097) (via Slashdot)
