I’m pretty much a beanpole, so I don’t have room to complain, but nobody likes to pop a button off their pants the day they turn a year older. I did that today; kind of demoralizing. Getting older is not my favorite thing, but at least we humans have an opportunity to up our worth each year.

The software we use can’t share that hope. A ridiculous comparison, but I couldn’t help make it after the timing of two events: Only mere minutes after the demoralizing button pop I found myself reading yet another Federal Government RFP including yet another requirement for Windows 98 compatibility. Me, I can shed a pound or two. Windows 98 couldn’t be more obsolete. Buried next to it is Netscape Navigator.

Here’s the skinny on Windows 98:

The most recent edition of Windows 98 was released in mid-1999, so it’s coming up on being nine years old. To put that in perspective, Windows 98 is older than the birth of SCORM and Flash-based video.

Stats released in January of this year tout Windows 98 as holding a whopping .4 percent of the browser market. Even Linux claims 4.4 percent! We don’t have to cater to that bugger! Windows 98 was officially dropped from Microsoft support in summer of 2006, and finally, Windows 98 can’t run either the latest Microsoft browser or the media player. All that means it can be challenging to create cutting-edge web-based products when they MUST function on the Windows 98 dinosaur.

Sure, we can chalk up this archaic requirement to an RFP template being reused for the last 9 years. But let’s not forget that RFPs beget contracts. And contracts beget lawyers. Let’s do a favor to the developers and in turn to our audiences.

Dear RFP authors, please update the specs!

About a month ago, career coach Jefferey Ward offered young Federal employees some advice on maintaining their social network presence (e.g., Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn).

Federal Computer Week writer Florence Olsen offered this summary of his advice:

If you are a young federal employee with ambitions to become a government leader, do yourself a career favor: Don’t let any wild party pictures or other unprofessional-looking content taint your Facebook profile and, possibly, your career.

Olsen followed up by paraphrasing an additional Ward prediction that fledging Federal employees would do well to weigh:

Young feds often hear that many opportunities for advancement and leadership will open up in the federal government any time now as the large baby boom generation begins to retire in record numbers. But Ward told a different story. He said many senior employees who are eligible for retirement are not retiring, for various reasons.

This doesn’t mean that opportunities to advance won’t abound as Boomers step down, but it does mean that it’s not going to be as easy as you might hope. The search for standout talent is on, and posting a photo of yourself in your Tinkerbell Halloween costume might give the tie to another equally qualified candidate who doesn’t spend his or her time trying on tights and waving magic wands (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Ward is essentially acknowledging that Government agencies (i.e., employers) are not only familiar with the social networking phenomenon, they are actually paying attention to its implementation. If you’re job hunting in the Federal sector, it might be time to take down those frat party pics.

Governmental spending transparency is catching on at the state level. Alaska is the latest of ten states to effectively throw its books wide open to anyone with Internet access. The state calls it Checkbook Online, and describes it as such:

The State of Alaska is publishing information from the statewide accounting system on the web. This is part of a national trend for governments to develop websites that allow constituents to view financial information in searchable formats. Such websites are widely considered to improve transparency into the financial operations of government.

Residents of “The Last Frontier” doubtless enjoy being able to see what elected officials are doing with their tax dollars. The rest of us should have it so good.

Ypulse, which touts daily news and commentary about Generation Y for media and marketing professionals, just concluded their College Mashup conference on Friday. The focus was on how to connect with today’s totally-wired college student. Something that may be of interest to marketers, sure, but should also be on the minds of employers, too. For employers trying to fill the void left by retiring Baby Boomers, recruiting IS marketing. So what messages work?

An event sponsor, Survey U, offered up some stats related to what these kids want in their advertising. So if you want their attention, check this:

60% of respondents said being truthful is extremely important, while only 15% gave the same importance to being stylish, and only 8% felt it was extremely important to exude cool. That’s great news.

Say you’re recruiting for a federal agency; it will be much easier to talk honestly about a job offering or agency in general than it will be to try to inject style or coolness into public service.

Honest language is more evergreen, too. Imagine trying to write messaging that exuded cool. Sure, I know there is a massive ad industry trying to do that very thing day in and day out, but they don’t sleep. When you try to exude cool, you risk your message being oh so not cool by the time it hits the audience.

Style and cool are two things that move very quickly and are hard to nail just right. But honesty? Hopefully that comes pretty easily.