You'd think these people had never worked for the government before, but the Obama staff is furious that the White House is using antiquated technology. From WaPo:
Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.Facebook at work, what the hell is that? Most government-issue computers take so long to load up a goddamn Word document you'd be better off writing a report in Ottoman-era calligraphy. And a PDF? Fuggedaboutit! It might load up when the administration's over. All you can do is sit around, yell at your computer screen, and curse the Senator's brother who has the lucrative tech contract to set up this jenky-assed system.
What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.
For all the young and idealistic staffers in the West Wing, welcome to the "Hope and Change" of sluggish bureaucracy.
See what the others have said:
7 comments:
I'm sure half of them are still trying to figure out what "right click" means and why they don't get a nice, new Mac Book.
This brings me back to my gov't days. I remember when the 3 people in my office took a 2 hour lunch to celebrate when we got our own printer. Thank God it wasn't a color printer I doubt we would ever have come back from lunch, we'd have waited around for happy hour.
Did the ink cartridges have to be "special ordered" from a certain company that charged like $1,200. I want to get on in on the contract that makes those cartridges.
Now you're talking crazy talk Nixon! We may have got the printer but 4 offices shared one toner cartridge!
Shit motherfucker, a pdf loading looks like lightspeed compared to a pdf printing on military computer systems. It's like submitting a relatively easy calculus problem to a 1950's computer. Just send the job and wait for a couple hours and God help you if the power cuts out.
And where the heck is the "W" key?
Yeah, I feel soooooo sorry for them not to be able to hook up with all their friends and pals through Facebook and every other blessed piece of great technology to tell each other what they had for breakfast and what they finally decided to wear to work today.
Your tax dollars being spent!!
Kath
The drinking age should be 18.
As a proud member of DAMM (Drunks against Mad Mothers)- I can point out how well the .08 BAC limit has worked to get career drunks of the highways. All it has done has been a revenue producer for the states and it has worked to ensure that thousands of people who never needed to be there-go through coerced twelve step treatment.
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