Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: Obama staffers surprised at outdated computers and no IM...

Going from Mac to XP can well be describes as going from an Xbox to an Atari.

Mac programs not running on XP.

1. "Sucking it up" and wasting time waiting for your slow as hell hardware to catch up with you?
2. Spending some money now so that people can be as productive and efficient as possible.

A new computer and a a full suite of up to date software might be 1500. Compare that to wasting huge chunks of time with people making 80K a year.

It seems to me that the "get over it" attitude is just encouraging just more of the same government waste. Its bureaucracy at its worst.

Personally, I think this is a fine symbolic way of getting to know the bureaucracy they'll be dealing with. I think they should immediately begin the process of procuring, through the officially documented process, new equipment. Through this process, many valuable first hand lessons will be learned about how the government process works.

When it's "personal", you tend to remember it and deal with it with more vigor, productive creativity (not shady stuff, just clever solutions). I've been part of a computer lab management team at the space program and the rehost of older Silicon Graphics machines to up to date Linux machines took a lot of planning and work. They won't have to rehost, but may have to do something significant for their satisfaction. Like a lot of citizens, I'd like the administration to make sure the government works well - dealing with smaller issues first hand is a good way to know what you're dealing with, and you can move forward from there.

I'm looking forward to how they deal with this... I do have a feeling, though, that there's going to be someone who'll just bring their personal computer with them and get in trouble.

Best,
Shalin