

Looks like the economy’s not the only thing that’s in need of a facelift. Obama and his cabinet moved into the Oval Office with outdated technology, disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside email accounts.
“It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
No one could explain the problem with the tech, only that it needed to be fixed. One member of the White House came to work on Tuesday, following the ceremony, only to find that it was impossible to decipher which programs needed updating or which computers could handle such a tedious endeavor. The team members, used to Apple Macintoshes, found outdated Microsoft systems scattered about.
"It is what it is," said a White House staff member. "Nobody is being a blockade right now. It's just the system we need to go through."
David Almacy, President’s George W. Bush’s Internet director in 2005, recalled having troubles setting up his Blackberry. "The White House itself is an institution that transitions regardless of who the president is," he said. "The White House is not starting from scratch. Processes are already in place."
It’ll be interesting to see what technological change Obama brings to the White House, unlike the missing letters from the computer keyboards during Bush’s presidency, as the former President once complained of in 2001.