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US CTO Tries To Wean the White House Off Floppy Disks
schnell writes: MIT grad and former Google exec Megan J. Smith is the third Chief Technical Officer of the United States and the first woman to hold the position created five years ago by President Obama. But, as a New York Times profile points out, while she fights to wean the White House off BlackBerries and floppy disks, and has introduced the President to key technical voices like Tim Berners-Lee and Vint Cerf to weigh in on policy issues, her position is deliberately nebulous and lacking in real authority. The President's United States Digital Service initiative to improve technology government-wide is run by the Office of Management and Budget, and each cabinet department has its own CIO who mandates agency technical standards. Can a position with a direct access to the President but no real decision-making authority make a difference?
Floppy disks did not survive in storage or in everyday use. They were an unreliable temporary way to store data. They often developed bad sectors. Those of us around back then will remember people bringing disks to us that they could not longer read files off of, and having to use things like Norton Utilities to try to recover data, which was often as not unsuccessful.
I had a huge number of floppy disks in storage in the 1990s, and copied them to more reliable media - what I could of them - a lot of them had errors.
For a security sensitive place, like the US govt, I think lack of networking, and using floppy disks to transfer files is a good thing. It is harder to sneak out large amounts of data undetected. Doesn't the Kremlin use typewriters now?
Yes! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...
A source at Russia's Federal Guard Service (FSO), which is in charge of safeguarding Kremlin communications and protecting President Vladimir Putin, claimed that the return to typewriters has been prompted by the publication of secret documents by WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website, as well as Edward Snowden, the fugitive US intelligence contractor. The FSO is looking to spend 486,000 roubles – around £10,000 – on a number of electric typewriters, according to the site of state procurement agency, zakupki.gov.ru. The notice included ribbons for German-made Triumph Adlew TWEN 180 typewriters, although it was not clear if the typewriters themselves were this kind.
The service declined to comment on the notice, which was posted last week. However an FSO source told Izvestiya newspaper: “After scandals with the distribution of secret documents by WikiLeaks, the exposes by Edward Snowden, reports about Dmitry Medvedev being listened in on during his visit to the G20 summit in London, it has been decided to expand the practice of creating paper documents.”
Unlike printers, every typewriter has its own individual pattern of type so it is possible to link every document to a machine used to type it.
Did you know that for $30 you can get a floppy-to-USB device?
It's the size of a floppy drive, installs in a floppy bay, plugs up to the floppy and power connectors, and provides a USB port, a couple of buttons, and a numeric display.
You plug in a USB stick, use the buttons to select which diskette image you want to use, and it presents it to the host machine like a floppy disk.
You often see them advertised for Roland keyboards, but they should work with most floppy applications.
I worked at the executive office the president and I never saw a floppy used on any of the computers that were connected to any of the networks (unclassified and several classified).
Blackberries are still common, but you had the option of using your personal device with an app that kept the EOP data segregated. The IT folks were testing newer devices to replace the BBs and the switchover is supposed to be soon.
Overall, I did not find the IT outdated. They were not completely cutting edge, but I think if you account for security, managing common configurations, and procurement cycles I think EOP struck a good balance.
As for the age of the machines, consider the trade off between buying a new computer to replace a 2013 laptop or being able to send someone for training or travel for a meeting.
Bush didn't tank a baseball team. He made millions off it. He bought in, used his "influence" (asking daddy for favors) to get the old stadium re-built at taxpayer expense, and sold off, for a massive profit. He didn't have any real duties, despite an inflated title, and was just there to grease political wheels for a new stadium.
Traditional Republican style, welfare for the rich. A millionaire made milions more off the taxpayers because he got a "free house" but God forbid we let a poor person stay in a state home for a while to get back on their feet after personal problems.
Learn to love Alaska