So, my IT dept here at work has decided

[ztirffritz]

You work for the government don't you? That is the only place where that logic makes sense. In the past, I've purchase RAM for my users from my own pocket because I couldn't get the company to pay for it and it cost about the same as lunch. It is worth the goodwill that it buys from the end user though in my opinion.

Then again, if I asked for RAM and was offered a new computer instead, I'd be pretty happy too.