Developer workstation setup to promote startup culture?
samstokes: You don't really say what specific startup mentality you want to promote, but it seems to me a good generic startup mentality would include creativity and flexibility. That suggests the strategy: let each developer pick her own work rig. Give them a budget and maybe some suggestions, and let them spec and configure.If the developers you're bringing on board are any good, they'll have a favourite OS / IDE / byzantine .vimrc / etc. By letting them use it, you'll gain in productivity, and - particularly if they've previously worked for BigCos with silly tools restrictions - you'll gain a lot in morale. In my experience the thrill of "my employer bought me a shiny new Mac" wears off after a month, whereas "my employer encourages me to use the tools I'm best with" provides ongoing job satisfaction.Regarding the work/personal split, it sounds like what you're worried about is people wasting time at work, getting distracted, or otherwise being less productive. IMHO that's a motivation issue, not a hardware issue. Good developers with interesting problems to work on need to be reminded to eat, not trained to work harder.