> Meanwhile, over here in healthcare, I'm currently carefully evaluating whether to update some software packages from their 2011-release version to their 2015-release version

This could partially explain why healthcare IT is some of the worst in the world. Can't imagine the number of vulnerabilities you have from using such outdated tech.

From EHR systems, to basic appointment scheduling, to billing and insurance, everything is so poorly built and tedious for the users. Not to mention, healthcare is always falling victim to ransomware, shutting down entire hospital systems.

I know you'll say you need to move slow, lives are at risk, etc. But what healthcare IT is doing now certainly doesn't work. So maybe push on the gas a little bit.

Bullshit. When your "minor issue" becomes something that kills people, you test the living bejesus out of it before you think of deploying. When even the slightest change in UI becomes a deadly operator error, you make damned good and sure that those errors won't happen. There are more things that there is no "undo" (or antidote) for than you can imagine. Having things not isolated is the only real problem.

> Bullshit. When your "minor issue" becomes something that kills people, you test the living bejesus out of it before you think of deploying.

At no point did I say not to test before rollouts.

> When even the slightest change in UI becomes a deadly operator error

Stop being dramatic, because it's part of the problem. Yes, UI's are critical, and these UI's are absolute garbage. You need to improve rapidly, not agonize over bullshit changes in Microsoft Office.

https://www.thedoctors.com/articles/electronic-health-record...

https://ehrintelligence.com/news/diagnostic-medication-error...

EHR's are killing people because they are so poorly built. To reiterate, what you're doing is not working.

> you make damned good and sure that those errors won't happen

You're not making sure those errors are not happening, is the point.

as user5994461 wrote that's a bit too extreme in the opposite direction.

However, most people don't realize that the majority of the software deployed in the world is meant to run for years without getting feature updates.

Most production code is running on servers, vehicles, industrial systems, infrastructure, military stuff and so on. Planes and power plants can have an expected lifetime of 40 years.

Case in point: the civil infrastructure project https://www.cip-project.org/ plans to maintain a Debian-derived kernel and basic OS and backport security updates for 25 years.

That's a bit too extreme in the opposite direction. :D

For those wondering what features are missing from RHEL 5, look further than SSL.

Fortunately nobody has ever needed to access the internet from these machines.

People on HN forget that a huge amount of computing has nothing whatsoever to do with the web.

Expect all healthcare machines to be networked, even if only internally. Need the active directory to login and need to upload the image/test sample somewhere else after it's taken. That's sadly one reason why ransomware can propagate so easily and stop hospitals. :(

In theory there can be computers with no network, typically an isolated computer attached to heavy test machinery, but it's becoming impossibly rare in all industries.

And they should be easy to recognize, look for the post-it nearby with the shared username/password to unlock it, also notice the doctors leaving with the x-ray printed on paper or a USB key to be able to transfer it elsewhere.

This if done is usually against the manufacturer's directives (if even possible to put online). The equipment that has networking capabilities is designed for internal networks, physically isolated, and it's a big emphasis on this coming from the OEMs.

Changing/maintaining SW in medical devices is not easy (FDA, CE...) and as many mentioned, not everything is designed to move like the web...

In 2002, I underwent a LASIK operation on a machine that ran Windows for Workgroups. I believe the same machine was in use until 2012 or so.

Getting your doctors off internet explorer would be a good start

But IE7 hasn’t been sufficiently tested for enterprise yet! j/k don’t worry they’re all on Edge.

MRI machines run Linux? That's really cool. Linux literally saves lives. I'll never forget that.