3 ms·
Machines like that, which cannot shoulder the risk of applying updates to a network-connected general purpose OS designed to run third party (potentially malici
by lotyrin 9y ago
Machines like that, which cannot shoulder the risk of applying updates to a network-connected general purpose OS designed to run third party (potentially malicious) code on a non-deterministic non-realtime system... probably should not be using such a system. Patching is risky, not patching is risky.
They should have formally validated software running on formally validated deterministic realtime hardware, running in non-networked environments (But with telemetry and remote control from networked computers if that's convenient) we just don't bother because it's cheaper and legal to get away with selling hacky nonsense.
- djsumdog 9y agoI agree. A mission critical MRI machine should not be running an off the shelf OS (Win, Mac, Linux). If you're paying $5 million for a machine, it better have its own real time operating system that had been independently audited. Now the machine that you pull up the images on is most likely going to be a general purpose PC/Mac. You still need to patch that. Your IT dept needs to have patch cycles that deploy in sets, so all mission critical equipment can be tested before everything gets patched. It takes diligence, and planning. If you prepare at a very large hospital with two MRI machines, then a bad patch can leave you degraded, but not totally offline.
- toyg 9y agoCustom operating systems would require higher development costs and extremely rare sysadmin skills, which would mean larger hospital budgets, which would mean higher taxes or premiums. Yeah, not gonna happen.