5 ms·

I was surprised to see an XP box running on the desk in a doctor's consulting room in Wales the other day. I thought it had gone away, but obviously not...

by mpclark 12y ago

allegory 12y ago
I have a couple of members of my family rolling out Windows 7 to doctors across the UK. They're on it but the doctors are cheap arses and the NHS won't cut the entire cost of the migration even if it does put patient data at risk.
- nknighthb 12y ago
  I was under the impression most UK doctors were basically employees of the NHS. What sort of structure calls for them to pay for upgrading software/equipment?
  - allegory 12y ago
    No - they get a budget from which they have to buy equipment from a supplier. They get to choose the supplier from a tender list and they get to pick the software they want to pay for. A GP is a private limited company usually that is paid by the NHS to accept patients. The structure is usually 2-3 GPs as directors (partners) and then they employ others. The NHS also pays them to look after student doctors. There are some exceptions where a GP rents a surgery or health center place from the health authority and gets equipment included but that's a rarity these days. All this is a complete flipping mess, inefficient and expensive but that's what happens when you privatise half of the health services. From experience as well, as I worked in that sector for a bit, GPs are total incompetent assholes. You're better going to a walk in center or a hospital with a walk in unit. They're not about saving every last penny of the bottom line then.
daigoba66 12y ago
First rule of IT should be that nothing surprises you. Many people treat computers as appliances that either work or don't work. Like an expensive toaster.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  I am somewhat sympathetic to that. Because if you look at it, replacing a perfectly good, expensive machine for a new one every three years sounds ridiculous. But this situation is 50% greed and 50% technological progress, so we keep throwing away stuff that works to get stuff that does the same, only a bit faster.
- danudey 12y ago
  I updated my video card drivers last night, which turned into a two-hour tech support issue. The fans on my second video card stopped turning, the display wasn't recognized. Wiped all my drivers out and reinstalled, still nothing. Thought I'd burnt out my hardware somehow. Come to find out that this version of the driver enables crossfire by default, even if you had manually disabled it before (and previous versions had it disabled by default). There's no indication that it's changed the setting though, so it was just like 'hey, no monitor lol'. The best part was after I turned it back off and got my second monitor back, a window popped up saying 'Hey your settings aren't optimized!' and suggested I turn crossfire on. The lesson is: if you touch it it might break and you might have no idea why, because some developer (or manager) made a stupid decision somewhere to change a user's settings without asking them.
- danelectro 12y ago
  I sure have found a lot more discarded PC's than I have toasters. If you can't produce a system (hardware, software, and "support" if absolutely necessary) which can outlast a toaster by design (decade or two at least), without a need to "upgrade" these elements, then many a consumer would naturally compare your engineering unfavorably to that of the toaster.

I was surprised to see an XP box running on the desk in a doctor's consulting room in Wales the other day. I thought it had gone away, but obviously not...

by mpclark 12y ago

I was surprised to see an XP box running on the desk in a doctor's consulting room in Wales the other day. I thought it had gone away, but obviously not...

allegory 12y ago

I have a couple of members of my family rolling out Windows 7 to doctors across the UK. They're on it but the doctors are cheap arses and the NHS won't cut the entire cost of the migration even if it does put patient data at risk.

nknighthb 12y ago
I was under the impression most UK doctors were basically employees of the NHS. What sort of structure calls for them to pay for upgrading software/equipment?
- allegory 12y ago
  No - they get a budget from which they have to buy equipment from a supplier. They get to choose the supplier from a tender list and they get to pick the software they want to pay for. A GP is a private limited company usually that is paid by the NHS to accept patients. The structure is usually 2-3 GPs as directors (partners) and then they employ others. The NHS also pays them to look after student doctors. There are some exceptions where a GP rents a surgery or health center place from the health authority and gets equipment included but that's a rarity these days. All this is a complete flipping mess, inefficient and expensive but that's what happens when you privatise half of the health services. From experience as well, as I worked in that sector for a bit, GPs are total incompetent assholes. You're better going to a walk in center or a hospital with a walk in unit. They're not about saving every last penny of the bottom line then.

daigoba66 12y ago

First rule of IT should be that nothing surprises you. Many people treat computers as appliances that either work or don't work. Like an expensive toaster.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
I am somewhat sympathetic to that. Because if you look at it, replacing a perfectly good, expensive machine for a new one every three years sounds ridiculous. But this situation is 50% greed and 50% technological progress, so we keep throwing away stuff that works to get stuff that does the same, only a bit faster.
danudey 12y ago
I updated my video card drivers last night, which turned into a two-hour tech support issue. The fans on my second video card stopped turning, the display wasn't recognized. Wiped all my drivers out and reinstalled, still nothing. Thought I'd burnt out my hardware somehow. Come to find out that this version of the driver enables crossfire by default, even if you had manually disabled it before (and previous versions had it disabled by default). There's no indication that it's changed the setting though, so it was just like 'hey, no monitor lol'. The best part was after I turned it back off and got my second monitor back, a window popped up saying 'Hey your settings aren't optimized!' and suggested I turn crossfire on. The lesson is: if you touch it it might break and you might have no idea why, because some developer (or manager) made a stupid decision somewhere to change a user's settings without asking them.
danelectro 12y ago
I sure have found a lot more discarded PC's than I have toasters. If you can't produce a system (hardware, software, and "support" if absolutely necessary) which can outlast a toaster by design (decade or two at least), without a need to "upgrade" these elements, then many a consumer would naturally compare your engineering unfavorably to that of the toaster.