Chapter 3. Workstations

If you manage your desktop and laptop workstations correctly, new employees will have everything they need on their first day, including basic infrastructure, such as email. Existing employees will find that updates happen seamlessly. New applications will be deployed unobtrusively. Repairs will happen in a timely manner. Everything will “just work.”

Managing operating systems on workstations boils down to three basic tasks: loading the system software and applications initially, updating the system software and applications, and configuring network parameters. We call these tasks the Big Three.