http://www.tuaw.com/2009/01/22/mac-savvy-obama-staffers-frustrated-with-legacy-white-house/
"According to the Washington Post, the incoming U.S. presidential administration has inherited quite the challenging IT environment: The White House.
President Obamas staff -- accustomed to Macs, social media, and having the latest equipment -- found Windows PCs with Microsoft Office 2003 in their new offices. Laptops were "scarce," apparently, and the team had trouble finding ways to update the redesigned White House website and add subtitles to web videos. Perhaps they were misled by the prominence of Mac hardware in the fictional-but-familiar West Wing version of the executive mansion.
Valleywags Owen Thomas suggests that Obamas staff are "whiners." "Outside the Manhattan media bubble and Silicon Valleys startup cube farms, this is how most Americans work. Want a Macintosh? Sorry, IT hasnt approved it. Oh, you need to use Facebook to interact with customers? Sorry, that sites blocked -- and management suspects that social media is a buzzword which means getting paid to waste time chatting with friends."
Part of the reason for the White Houses legacy systems is related to the need to retain all computer records for the National Archives, and protect all kinds of communication (from emails to IMs to tweets) on the network for national security reasons. This task isnt impossible with a Mac -- some might say its easier to accomplish with a Mac than with a PC -- but there will be a lot of sleepless nights for the White Houses new IT staff while the new system is set up. Meanwhile, the tech-friendly new Commander in Chief appears to have won his first geek battle; he is going to get to keep his Blackberry [or something like it; Engadget clarifies that we dont know the details yet, and theres an ongoing White House press conference that may clarify the point -Ed.]subject to a security overhaul by an unnamed federal agency (assumed to be the NSA).
With the new administrations focus on change, it seems as though a new tech infrastructure and business rules for the executive office of the President are in the cards. It remains to be seen if our favorite platform, though, makes the cut.
"According to the Washington Post, the incoming U.S. presidential administration has inherited quite the challenging IT environment: The White House.
President Obamas staff -- accustomed to Macs, social media, and having the latest equipment -- found Windows PCs with Microsoft Office 2003 in their new offices. Laptops were "scarce," apparently, and the team had trouble finding ways to update the redesigned White House website and add subtitles to web videos. Perhaps they were misled by the prominence of Mac hardware in the fictional-but-familiar West Wing version of the executive mansion.
Valleywags Owen Thomas suggests that Obamas staff are "whiners." "Outside the Manhattan media bubble and Silicon Valleys startup cube farms, this is how most Americans work. Want a Macintosh? Sorry, IT hasnt approved it. Oh, you need to use Facebook to interact with customers? Sorry, that sites blocked -- and management suspects that social media is a buzzword which means getting paid to waste time chatting with friends."
Part of the reason for the White Houses legacy systems is related to the need to retain all computer records for the National Archives, and protect all kinds of communication (from emails to IMs to tweets) on the network for national security reasons. This task isnt impossible with a Mac -- some might say its easier to accomplish with a Mac than with a PC -- but there will be a lot of sleepless nights for the White Houses new IT staff while the new system is set up. Meanwhile, the tech-friendly new Commander in Chief appears to have won his first geek battle; he is going to get to keep his Blackberry [or something like it; Engadget clarifies that we dont know the details yet, and theres an ongoing White House press conference that may clarify the point -Ed.]subject to a security overhaul by an unnamed federal agency (assumed to be the NSA).
With the new administrations focus on change, it seems as though a new tech infrastructure and business rules for the executive office of the President are in the cards. It remains to be seen if our favorite platform, though, makes the cut.
