9 years ago
2
Her Task Is to Wean the White House Off Floppy Disks
Ms. Smith, 50, an M.I.T.-trained mechanical engineer and former Google executive, is working hard to bring her Silicon Valley sensibility to the Obama administration. But four months into her job as the chief technology officer of the United States, the woman whose division at Google dreamed up Google Glass and the driverless car is facing culture shock in a federal bureaucracy ruled by creaky technology and run in part on the floppy disk.
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http://www.nytimes.com
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Floppy disks? They make good coasters, but is this how behind our government is? Really?!? I guess that explains a lot...
I mean I don't think it is that surprising. Many local departments of transportation still store data on 8 inch floppys, and it's pretty common from a federal to a local level for governmental organizations to request increased funding for technological investments. Many are hurting and far behind the privatized world. But if it's not a hot topic that fits a sound bite the american electorate won't know about it/vote for it/fix it.