IE's Active Desktop on Public Stations?

[Kevin Stevens]

I have avoided using the Active Desktop on public workstations.  I
experimented with it for a while but found it to be unreliable.  On some
systems it caused frequent crashes.  Microsoft may have worked the kinks out
of it since then.  It really isn't an issue for workstations that are
configured in a way that does not allow user access to the desktop.

Locking down machines with the Active Desktop may be more difficult than a
standard install.  With browser components integrated into the operating
system, applications such as WinSelect and Cooler (at least the versions
I've used) are severely limited in their ability to restrict access to
configuration options.  This is an important thing to consider before
rushing out to buy Win98 when it's released next month.  The Active Desktop
is a part of the Win98 OS, like it or not.

That having been said, the concept of integrating Web functionality with the
desktop interface has a lot of potential.  I would be interested in hearing
from folks who have used the features of Active Desktop to their advantage
on public workstation configurations.

Kevin Stevens
Computing Systems Mgr.
Pratt Institute Libraries
Brooklyn, NY

-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Adlington <jana at InfoNET.st-johns.nf.ca>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 1998 10:01 AM
Subject: IE's Active Desktop on Public Stations?


>
> Is anyone using Internet Explorer's Active Desktop with Windows
>NT 4.0 on your public OPAC stations?  And if so, can you successfully
>prevent your students/patrons from modifying the desktop?
>
> Some context:  today, all our public machines are MacIntoshes,
>running Netscape.  By the end of the week, they will all be NT, running -
>something...  We're not overly concerned with how our patrons use the
>applications we've loaded, but we don't want them adding extras.  The
>above has been put forth as a plan.
>
> Any thoughts would be most appreciated!
>
> Janice Adlington
> Trinity College Library
>
>"I have a bad feeling about this."
> -- Star Wars