Mac computers may not be officially deployed in your enterprise, but employees are using them on the sly and sneaking around looking for like-minded users for support--at least according to Forrester analyst David Johnson.

"Mac users are drinking furniture polish in back hallways, getting their fix from fellow bootleggers who have blazed the trails around IT's prohibition," Johnson wrote in a new report titled "People Are Bringing Macs to Work--It's Time to Repeal Prohibition."

More than a fifth of companies out there are witnessing a significant increase in employee use of personal Macs, and 40 percent still prohibit access to the company network or email over the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) computers, reports Tom Kaneshige at CIO magazine.  It isn't necessarily the young Turks who are sneaking Macs into the office either. Most of the devices are coming in by way of executives, high-performing sales people and other workaholic types.

Mac cheerleader Johnson advises CIOs to turn to the renegade Mac users in their organizations to help shepherd the rest of the workforce onto the devices. These rebels have insight into useful apps, email configurations and VPN access, and they can share them with their fellow employees.

"Those of us who have lived in places where prohibition still reigns know that it doesn't really stop anyone from having a wee nip with dinner--they just bring their own," Johnson wrote. "Those continuing to force prohibition risk being labeled as irrelevant at best and are holding back the competitive potential of the company's employees."

For more, see:
- Tom Kaneshige's article at CIO

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