The Stone Age

The Washington Post has an interesting article, although a bit thin on the specifics, about the state of technology at The White House. I never would have guessed that the Bush Administration wasn't tech savvy...they seemed like such an enlightened bunch.

First, a bitch. "Six year old Microsoft Software" probably refers to the use of Windows XP/Office 2003. I guess the author of this sees that "2003" moniker and instantly (in his tiny MacBook brain) thinks that it is too old to be useful. Honestly the combination of Windows XP/Office 2003 is very reliable and extremely secure.

Now, how to fix that mess.

• Forget about your Mac. I'm not saying that it wouldn't work but you can't have this tiny minority within the Government using Macs when EVERYONE else is using PCs. Mac users already have this elitist attitude, don't lend credibility to it. Not to mention that Apple products cost at least twice as much as Windows based systems. If anything you should lead by example and develop a highly secure, government specific distribution of Linux that will be platform agnostic.
  
• Create an agency or task someone high-ranking with revamping the ENTIRE government's tech infrastructure. It will be painful, expensive and time consuming but if it isn't done soon then you will just fall further behind. Some agencies are way ahead of the curve but it sounds like the Executive Branch is far behind.
• Ignore any company that comes calling to pitch their "one size fits all" solution *cough Microsoft *cough. You need to pay smart, qualified people with no vested interest in platforms or technology to DESIGN something specific to the VERY unique situation that is The White House.

Barrack Obama should have no problem finding people willing to do help fix this problem.