Macs coming back to Capitol Hill Senate offices
For years, members of Congress who wanted to use Macs in their offices were discouraged from doing so. That's all changing, and Thomas Burr of the Salt Lake Tribune now reports that incoming freshman senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) will have his big screen iMac in his new office. His staff will be using Macs as well.
In previous years, senators' Macs were virtually eliminated by the office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (where the chief administrative and IT management functions reside for the legislative chamber). Despite the official "we don't support the Mac" stance, there were some holdouts. The late Senator Edward Kennedy had both desktop Macs and laptops, as did Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota.
Now the rules have changed, and Macs and iPads are making inroads where Apple products once feared to tread. By the way, Senator Orrin Hatch's office runs on Windows, but according to the Trib, the senior senator from Utah is using an iPad.
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For years, members of Congress who wanted to use Macs in their offices were discouraged from doing so. That's all changing, and Thomas Burr...
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This just makes sense. Its not like congress is going to pass state secrets over twitter. The sessions are covered live for crying out loud. I'm excited to see that while watching CSPAN I'll be able to tweet my congressmen directly.
January 05 2011 at 8:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIf I were in Congress, I go to the office of the Senate Sergeant of Arms and I'd be all like "respect mah authoritah!!"
Seriously, I'd be that guy's worst nightmare.
Watch out or he will pull out his fasces on your a**. Trust me, he will go apes*** crazy on you with that fasces on you and you will cower like a little girl in the cloak room.
January 05 2011 at 5:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is how you write an article when politics are involved.
No swipes at political figures, no palpable agenda - just a basic recitation of the facts in a dispassionate and even way.
I hope all post on TUAW of a political nature follow this same unbiased template in 2011.
I agree, the author (Mel Martin) was clear, concise and I didn't (as is all too often with TUAW) feel as if I was reading a misplaced Politics Daily article. Cheers to you TUAW and (echoing the sentiment of the post I'm replying to) here's to more articles like this in 2011!
January 05 2011 at 2:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt's surprising to see how many news stories are getting out there about Apple products being used in Congress. I'm glad people are taking notice finally! I am a staffer in the House and I can tell you a lot of people have been migrating over to Apple lately. In my office, I use a macbook pro and our Chief of Staff has an iMac. Our Legislative Director has a pro on order and each of us has an ipad (mine is a personal one). If I had my way, we'd be an Apple office exclusively.
Unfortunately, the House IT people have been very wary of allowing us to move from Blackberry handhelds over to iPhones. The whole "we don't support Apple" mantra is a symptom of our dated infrastructure. Hell, we just got campus wide wifi late last year.
I am also happy that the CAO is going to allow mobile devices to be used on the House floor. Now members can take their iPads with them, making life easier for us staff who can't go on the floor during votes and have limited access during session.
The current House rules on tech are arcane. I can say that there is a real push to open the place up to technology in the new House Republican leadership. Hell, we're even going to livestream the opening proceedings on Facebook.
I think you'll see the House open up faster than the Senate. That place is like a geriatric home. Most of the Senate is stuck in tradition and shuns tech. They dragged their feet to allow computers in the chamber to assist with legislative operation. It's the stone age over there.
The "'we don't support the Mac' stance" is hardly surprising given that the U.S. government sucks at Microsoft's teat.
January 04 2011 at 9:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOr more accurately, that the US government just plain sucks.
Most of the time, that is.
What's the other example? That he's dead?
January 04 2011 at 9:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou sound like a lovely person.
January 05 2011 at 7:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyhaywood_jablomee, you ever hear of a Reply button?
January 08 2011 at 12:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAnother example of Ted Kennedy being awesome! :-)
January 04 2011 at 7:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOh no that means more viruses will be created for mac to try and attack them!
January 04 2011 at 5:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIf Ted Kennedy could have a Mac and Mike Lee has a Mac too... there's got to be SOMETHING our politicians can use in there to find common ground and come together to get some work done :)
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