answer:Well, one, as someone who uses a Mac and manages a corporate windows network (not very well... but it is something I do) -- Large networks (windows in particular) tend to be Complex. Strange little things can crop up that turn out to be very different than their symptoms. So being paranoid and preventing people from doing things outside the norm can keep things running smoother. The other thing is various stories about people gaining access to networks via all kinds of methods -- including scattering random USB keys infected with a trojan in the parking lot of a bank -- somebody's going to pick one up and plug it in to their computer to see what's on it! As for the mac thing? I doubt they "hate" the Mac -- but it's an unknown thing. Plus, to get it to connect to the windows shares, they probably have to change a lot of settings. I've known networks to have a windows server & a mac server and just keep the two separate, only meeting at the servers.