Obama staffers, previously residents of a magical technological world filled with IM, Facebook, unicorns and Macs, found a barbaric Stone Age when they entered the White House: No IM, scarce laptops, and dear Christ, Windows XP.
Other brutal conditions include dated computer software and rules banning outside e-mail accounts (don't want another Sarah Palin mess, do we?). Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari." A travesty. How did previous White House staffs ever function???
Actually, even though I'm mocking their bellyaching because I have to meet my snide quota for the month, the conditions there really are brutal for the work they're trying to accomplish, and the new ways they're trying to accomplish it, if you think about it. IM, Facebook, email and laptops are the major tools his staffers have been using for the last couple years—and indeed, much of the reason they're in the White House today. And now they're gone. (Owen at Valleywag maintains the "stop whining" tack, from a real world perspective, if you're so inclined.)
Not to mention even the phones weren't working. In the office of the most powerful man in the world. Now that's ridiculous. [Washington Post - Thanks everybody!]