Analyst outfit Forrester is shocked that more than 41 per cent of companies ban employees using Apple toys on their networks. This appears to be the result of a new Forrester survey of IT executives at North American and European companies which says that evil IT management will not allow employee-owned Macs access to any company resources, even Web-based e-mail.

Forrester asked 590 IT executives and technology decision-makers if employee-owned Macs are granted access to resources like Web-based e-mail, hosted applications and virtual desktops, internal networks, and native e-mail applications said they would not let an Apple gismo have any access at all. The report is pro-Apple and claims that companies are unfairly prejudiced against the Mac, it ignores the fact that a third of companies block access from any employee-owned computer or device.

Forrester says that since “People are bringing Macs to Work—It’s time to repeal prohibition.” The logic is of course that when people start bringing in rabid dogs to work companies should also set up a petting park. Forrester analyst David Johnson wines that it is all because of brainwashing from Microsoft which has had two decades of Microsoft management traditions are either prohibiting Macs on the company network or limiting their support to executives only.

Forrester notes that Macs pose technology challenges to IT shops accustomed to Windows. But these challenges can be overcome, and giving employees more choice will improve productivity, Forrester says Johnson made the claim that employees who seek out new technologies tend to be more productive and serve customers more effectively. Macs today are being freewheeled into the office by executives, top sales reps, and other workaholics, he writes. So therefore they must be good.

What Johnson failed to point out in his pro-Apple sales pitch was that there is a damn fine reason why companies keep Apple toys off their networks. Firstly Apple networking has always been inferior to any other system. Apple toys are easy to hack and notoriously bad at correcting security flaws which means that a security department has an hope hole on their network for a long time. Secondly Apple gear does not play very well with other gear, which means that IT departments have to spend a fortune setting up new kit so the Apple fanboys in their company can listen to Coldplay.

Lastly there is a fundamental flaw in allowing an outside company onto your network which runs an walled garden of information and networking systems that you do not control. Rather than allowing “more choice” on the network, Apple gear is exclusive.