76% of UK's National Health Service PCs Not on Windows 10 Despite Looming Deadline (zdnet.com) 150
With less than half a year to go before support ends for Windows 7, about three-quarters of computers in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) are still running the OS. From a report: Just over one million computers in the NHS are still using Windows 7, according to a written answer from the Department of Health and Social Care. Having so many machines still running Windows 7 is a problem, according to Jo Platt MP, shadow cabinet office minister, as the end of extended support in January 2020 will mean no more fixes and patches without a costly custom-support deal. "With less than six months before Windows 7 support expires, it is deeply concerning that over a million NHS computers, over three quarters of the total NHS IT estate, are still using this operating system," she says.
I saw only the title on twitter... (Score:2)
I came running hoping that 76% of PCs were running linux :P
Yeap, not the year of linux desktop yet.
Re:I saw only the title on twitter... (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe Linux is the desired upgrade path from Win7.
It is for me - I'm working at eliminating the need for Windows and Office in my company. Linux will be one part and Mac OSX will be the other.
Re: (Score:3)
All my 3 PCs (2 personal and 1 from the company) are running linux now.
And I was a win7 user. Wasn't perfect, but I could use. Win10 was enough for me.
The penguin saved me. :)
Re: (Score:3)
I am still on Win7, but once I have to move, that Windows 10 malware will be used for nothing except gaming.
Re: (Score:2)
There are games that I play that do not (yet) work on Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
Might I notice the misleading equivalency of whether more games than you can play run on Linux, and whether any games worth playing run on Linux? The Linux Steam marketplace is larger than it was, but still seems to have recent higher end games.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. At this time, I am not ready to move over. But I will move all activities except gaming to Linux. There is no way that I will read email or do web-browsing or really anything except gaming on Windows 10. My future main system will, of course, also be dual boot, since my secondary Linux system is a low-end (but still pretty nice) AMD 2200G machine.
Re: (Score:2)
The price of a game is hours. Looking at dollars matters to the economy, carefully looking at your week is what matters to your life.
Otherwise you might as well divide by zero and say free games are infinitely better. You have a limited allocation to grant the attention economy, something they're becoming painfully aware of and cramming into the doorframe over.
Re: I saw only the title on twitter... (Score:1)
Windows 10 and its telemetry cannot be trusted to protect private patient information. Linux really is the best option here.
Re: I saw only the title on twitter... (Score:2)
Clearly you are a candidate for buying the original Brooklyn Bridge.
Win 10 sends unspecified telemetry in all variations.
That and you by implication seem completely devoid of the use and abuse of telemetry meta data.
Re: I saw only the title on twitter... (Score:5, Informative)
Windows 10 Enterprise (what large corporations and government agencies run) can turn all that shit off completely
FAKE NEWS
Using the "diagnostic data" flavor of spying, Enterprise can be set to a lower level than other versions. But it still collects and sends a ton of stuff.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-... [microsoft.com]
Even after you set the relevant setting to "Security" via Group Policy, you still have to:
1) Disable the automatic reporting for the Malicious Software Removal Tool which hits your machine every time you get updates and does shit like scan for the fucking Blaster Worm and report on all the shit you have installed.
2) Disable joining MAPS, which is the oh-so-easy to opt-in bullshit data collection feature associated with Windows Defender.
3) Disable automatic sample submission for Windows Defender (which is different from MAPS).
4) Deal with this aptly-named registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Spynet\SpyNetReporting
5) Tons more shit that changes with every major update and is poorly documented (with disablement not really working) until the subsequent major update.
Then there's all the other flavors of spying. Oh what's that? You've signed into One Drive because we kept reinstalling and reenabling it for you? Skype for Business too? Thanks for all that data! I mean, we're just forcing integration into all Office applications for your convenience, we know how you love initiating a Skype call from an Excel spreadsheet!
Oh, you want to run calc.exe ? Well not only have we given it a useless, jumbo UI, we've tied it to the MS store so you can't even install the fucking thing without having core components of the store installed and enabled. Oh, visiting the store requires a Microsoft account, and by default we'll tie that account to your local machine's account and merge the two, entangling all your Enterprise data with the more promiscuous data policy on the store.
Okay, okay. We'll let you keep calc.exe and some other "apps" installed and provisioned for all users, but you'll need to know the exact list of which "apps" you want to keep and which you want to remove to build your image. Go ahead and enter system audit mode, build and update your image, then run a bunch of powershell commands to remove Skype for Business, One Drive, Candy Crush, etc. Make sure you use the correct GUID which changes with every update! Oh, then when you're done, make sure you run sysprep ASAP because we WILL be downloading new apps for you in the background even in system audit mode. (You could do this while disconnected from the network, but then how are you going to get your updates, download your drivers, or save your fucking sysprepped image you fucking loser?)
Fine, you got us. The behavior of downloading more bloatware apps while in system audit mode is a bug! But it's because system audit mode isn't supported. We recommend you use offline servicing with DISM. No one really knows how to use it, it's incredibly slow, if you don't inject updates in a specific order (that we don't document well) you'll break the install. Oh, don't forget that whenever we release a new major update for Windows 10 the whole thing breaks until we release updated MDT and AIK stuff and you get them in place on your SCCM server and you spend a week or two digging through random blogs to fix all the byzantine errors.
Windows 10 is a fucking nightmare.
Re: (Score:2)
> Oh, you want to run calc.exe ? Well not only have we given it a useless, jumbo UI
You mean you haven't tried resizing it yet?
Re: (Score:2)
Double fake news:
Basic security level info is no worse than Windows has been since the days of XP.
All your defender based grips are not poorly documented and are quite literally individual settings which you have had to control for every enterprise grade anti-virus solution. In fact all the ones you listed are on the same page on the Group Policy templates catalog.
You know skype for business connects to a local server within your organisation right? Onedrive too. It re-installed on your client machines? Tim
Re: I saw only the title on twitter... (Score:1)
Microsoft - Are you listening? (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of people consider Win7 to be superior to Win10 for a lot of reasons. Security and stability being two at the top of the list.
How about continuing support on WIn7 until you have an effective approach for handling the concerns of institutional users as well as regular people who need Windows but are unwilling to take the full plunge into the Microsoft ecosystem.
Re:Microsoft - Are you listening? (Score:5, Informative)
How about continuing support on WIn7
Free support ends in 6 months, but paid support will be around for 3 years.
Re: (Score:2)
> Free support ends in 6 months, but paid support will be around for 3 years.
They'll pay it and we'll see the same story in three years. NHS will be off Win7 before /. CSS works right on mobile.
Microsoft is poorly managed. (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft makes more money if it can convince people they shouldn't run old versions.
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. [networkworld.com] [networkworld.com] "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC."
Links to articles that show Microsoft's very poor management. [slashdot.org] One link shows th
Re: (Score:3)
Good luck finding reliable hardware that actually works with Windows XP. Since no modern browser supports XP either you had better hope none of your staff ever need to browse the internet.
7 is the oldest version that you can still buy hardware for and run modern software on.
Re: (Score:2)
It's hilarious that you think the NHS has modern hardware :)
Telemetry used to get info w/o permission: Spyware (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
"Telemetry is not spyware."
An old saying is appropriate: "Don't pee on my boots and try to tell me it's just a warm spring rain."
Re:Microsoft - Are you listening? (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of people consider Win7 to be superior to Win10 for a lot of reasons. Security and stability being two at the top of the list.
You and many other people don't get what has been going on for 20 years. Microsoft's and the videogame industries wet dream since the beginning was to get rid of software ownership and take control of PC's. For those of us who remember palldium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
In the 90's when rpg games were getting expensive CEO's and devs cooked up a plan to con the public out of software ownership by rebadging RPG's they had in development as mmo's to get the public to pay for the same role playing that they've partially stolen and trapped on their computers in their office and to undermine game ownership.
Once the public took the bait with early games like Ultima online, Everquest, Guild wars and world of warcraft, this lead to steam in 2004 where Valve stole half-life 2 by infecting it with a patch that tied it to computers inside his offices, from that point on steam would grow into a monster as internet penetration expanded to the general publics of the world and most of the public being idiots and comptuer illiterate, this allowed game companies to steal what wasn't nailed down because their customers couldn't reach them.
Then mobile smartphones were released and wireless was fast enough to do server locked mobile apps that had gacha/gambling mechanics and very quickly mobile game profits outstripped the profits of both console and the PC market combined.
Since android and smartphones are entirely locked down platforms with no software ownership and everything being locked to servers inside corporae offices. Everyone took notice of the super profits being made and now they are coming to lock down the PC with windows 10. This is just going to get worse, and they have the big plan to basically have an extended internet file system with license servers where your software can be disabled or withdrawn remotely via patches/updates, we've seen this with UWP games with huge layers of drm and virtual machines aka they can crack a game then an update comes and the crack stops working because drm is built into the OS. They are merely killing off what started in the late 90's with PC games and applying that to software more generally.
They are working on encrypted computing where files are completley obscured from the end user they want the PC of the future to go the android route. To see where they want the future of PC go load up nox http://www.bignox.com/ [bignox.com] and download a few apps and notice they are streamed/bicycle chained to servers, aka critical code is contained on servers in corporate offices while you run a local "dumb client" only.
Re: (Score:1)
You and many other people don't get what has been going on for 20 years. Microsoft's and the videogame industries wet dream since the beginning was to get rid of software ownership and take control of PC's. For those of us who remember palldium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
In the 90's when rpg games were getting expensive CEO's and devs cooked up a plan to con the public out of software ownership by rebadging RPG's they had in development as mmo's to get the public to pay for the same role playing that they've partially stolen and trapped on their computers in their office and to undermine game ownership.
Once the public took the bait with early games like Ultima online, Everquest, Guild wars and world of warcraft, this lead to steam in 2004 where Valve stole half-life 2 by infecting it with a patch that tied it to computers inside his offices, from that point on steam would grow into a monster as internet penetration expanded to the general publics of the world and most of the public being idiots and comptuer illiterate, this allowed game companies to steal what wasn't nailed down because their customers couldn't reach them.
Then mobile smartphones were released and wireless was fast enough to do server locked mobile apps that had gacha/gambling mechanics and very quickly mobile game profits outstripped the profits of both console and the PC market combined.
Since android and smartphones are entirely locked down platforms with no software ownership and everything being locked to servers inside corporae offices. Everyone took notice of the super profits being made and now they are coming to lock down the PC with windows 10. This is just going to get worse, and they have the big plan to basically have an extended internet file system with license servers where your software can be disabled or withdrawn remotely via patches/updates, we've seen this with UWP games with huge layers of drm and virtual machines aka they can crack a game then an update comes and the crack stops working because drm is built into the OS. They are merely killing off what started in the late 90's with PC games and applying that to software more generally.
They are working on encrypted computing where files are completley obscured from the end user they want the PC of the future to go the android route. To see where they want the future of PC go load up nox http://www.bignox.com/ [bignox.com] and download a few apps and notice they are streamed/bicycle chained to servers, aka critical code is contained on servers in corporate offices while you run a local "dumb client" only.
Can we retire this owning software meme plz, we nwver owned any software, we where granted (depending on UELA) a singel use (either singel computer or singel user) loften non transferable icense to use the software, yhe only thing thet thanged is the term of the licenses validity, at fist it wass for ever, then it was untill te activation servers shut down (at some point you will ned to reinstall the os etc) , with saas it is until you stop paying the sub. Well at lest that is what sems different to me, if
Re: (Score:2)
Can we retire this owning software meme plz, we nwver owned any software, we where granted (depending on UELA) a singel use (either singel computer or singel user) loften non transferable icense to use the software, yhe only thing thet thanged is the term of the licenses validity, at fist it wass for ever, then it was untill te activation servers shut down (at some point you will ned to reinstall the os etc) , with saas it is until you stop paying the sub. Well at lest that is what sems different to me, if i'm missing something (I probably am) please tell me
We do you, since you're ignorant. IP is a public monopoly, aka we grant monopoly rights to companies to produce software, but don't let facts hit you on your way out. The whole deal was, companies get a publically granted monopoly (copyright/patent/ip) in return for shit going public domain and into libraries. Since games are culture they've long since broken the deal.
You don't seem to have any political awareness or education what so ever.
Re: (Score:1)
If you look at an MMO like the original World of Warcraft (before they ran it into the ground), the entire game design philosophy drives community interaction and group effort. The idea that it's only superficially different from a traditional RPG is blatantly false to anyone who has put any signi
Re: (Score:2)
You can't take an RPG in development and simply call it "an MMO" and be done..
Yes you can, in fact it was done to the very first mmo Ultima online, it was done with guild wars, you don't seem to have any clue how computers work and that your mind is irrational. Any computer program can be divided into two pieces and run between two computers because two networked computers can act as a single computer.
So when you say "MMO's are special" you demonstrate you are technologically igonrant, you know nothing about how computers work. The fact that private servers exist for ultima online
Re: (Score:2)
Like XP SP3, 2K SP4, etc.
Re: (Score:1)
Windows 7 is a business grade OS.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10 are not, this dominance in computing is well screwed now.
Re: (Score:2)
In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
They're running an OS which doesn't change on them every few days, where things don't get rearranged or hidden with every "update", and isn't a leaking sieve of telemetry or being watched over your shoulder with every twitch of the mouse.
Sounds like the NHS is doing something right.
Re: (Score:2)
What, saving lives doesn't count?
Re: (Score:2)
Presumably they would be using the Enterprise edition, which gets updated very slowly and lets you completely disable all the telemetry. Most of the consumer crap is disabled too, i.e. no Candy Crush.
The real issue is going to be hardware. Their Windows 7 era PCs and expensive medical hardware will be incompatible with Windows 10. No drivers, and no budget to replace it all.
Re: (Score:2)
76% of the machines is too many for all of them to be medical devices. That number is big enough that it has to include the PCs sitting on desks.
Concern? (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, if she's concerned about that, just wait until the first W10 update mangling they get.
The biggest thing with W7 is that it actually works well.
Re: (Score:2)
Windows 10 is actually better at handling broken updates.
With Windows 7 all the IT department could do is hold the update back themselves until they are satisfied with their own test. With Windows 10 Enterprise they have a vast army of beta testers doing most of the work for them, i.e. consumers and businesses running the non-Enterprise versions.
Microsoft tests the updates on everyone else, and then offers up the security related ones for Enterprise users. Feature updates get delayed much longer, at least s
Re: (Score:2)
Windows 10 is actually better at handling broken updates.
Broken updates do not equal broken systems. Windows 10 updates have been bricking some software, necessitating scorched earth uninstalling, then deleting and reinstalling/renaming audio drivers, then reinstalling the software again.
Somewhere, somehow, the windows 10 update process has decided that functional drivers must have their names changed. It picks the first driver found, then renames every single driver that name, just serialized by one. And for 20 some drivers, it gets to be a pain. Add to that
Why are they on a hobbyist OS in the first place? (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, nobody in their right mind could call Windows a "professional" tool
Re: (Score:2)
Meanwhile the entirety of Amazon and most other corporations are on Linux even if only on the backend.
How amazingly moronic - "Amazon and most other corporations are NOT on Linux" - take a look at job listings for any major corporation, it's windows, windows, window all the way, except for scientific computing and specialty/web servers and networking appliances.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure warehouse workers will have a handheld device with them for scanning inventory, and it will most likely be running some kind of android variant.
Handheld devices (Score:2)
Bert is pretty close. Of the companies I work with the handhelds are WinCE (~15%),a closed non-android Linux distro (~40%), or Android (~45%).
Re: (Score:1)
Windows isn't a hobbyist OS; it's a gaming OS.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it can be. HIPPA is about securing patient-specific information private/secure.
Re: (Score:2)
A Win10 machine, isolated from the network and getting updates only via local-server (i.e. enterprise or educational license) should cause no issues with HIPPA. One that is connected to the net and sends telemetry to MS may be illegal to operate, the jury is still out on that. Some European privacy commissioners are still looking into that, because if there is any chance that personal data is sent to MS by telemetry and by intent, that would make Win 10 software illegal to sell under the GDPR. Any such tran
Technical Debt (Score:5, Insightful)
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Not only does technical debt have to be paid with interest, there's usually a late fee.
Re: (Score:2)
They went into debt as soon as they installed an OS with an expiration date. Each time they installed software that only runs on Windows, they increased the debt. With Microsoft, the debt ceiling has always been very high and obscured by clouds. The Windows 10 debacle was just the lower layer of clouds clearing so they could see that the ceiling was much higher than they thought.
Every year they saw that Windows 10 wasn't going to cut it and there was no reason to think it was going to get any better and mad
Re: (Score:3)
Every OS comes with an expiration date, Linux distros are no different...
That said, installing software which runs on only one os is as always a terrible idea, which is why many business applications are moving towards web-based delivery. If you reach a point where everything is web based then the platform used for accessing the applications becomes irrelevant.
Re: (Score:2)
On the list of reasons to make an application web based, I'm pretty sure "compatible with any OS" is way down the list. Far below "so we can move from sales to rental" and "so we have all your data", for example.
Re: (Score:2)
Just because something is web based, doesn't mean it has to be a rental model. There's nothing stopping you installing a webapp on your own servers and delivering it to clients over https - many things work this way.
Being able to write a single web based app which is compatible with any client, rather than having to make specific versions for each client is a signifiant driving factor - especially with many users wanting to use mobile devices or tablets.
Re: (Score:2)
Some Linux distros are different. You can update from one version to the next with minimal disruption. The whole world doesn't change under you. There is no cut-off date beyond which your old distro becomes unsupportable.
Who's complaining? (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a windows 7 machine and I'm NOT going to upgrade it anytime soon... It's the ONLY way I can run Windows Media Server to record and play back protected content recorded from my Cable Card based tuner. The only other options are a lot more expensive...
I suppose, once support goes completely away.. I'll start to think about other options, but I figure I'll run Windows 7 for another couple of years w/o updates by changing the guide data provider. It's not like I use it for browsing the web, all it does is run WMS, nothing else.
Given this one machine represents about 1/4th of my total Windows boxes, I cannot throw rocks at NHS for their issue. Also, I don't suppose it's an "emergency" for NHS to fix this right now. Nothing will stop working the day after windows 7 is no longer supported, you just don't get updates and patches to keep things secure. So they have a bit more time than it seems.
Re: (Score:2)
you just don't get updates and patches to keep things secure.
Why would NHS be worried about keeping the health records of every UK citizen secure?
You don't work in IT, do you? Only someone outside of IT could dismiss security concerns so blithely...
Re: (Score:2)
you just don't get updates and patches to keep things secure.
Why would NHS be worried about keeping the health records of every UK citizen secure?
You don't work in IT, do you? Only someone outside of IT could dismiss security concerns so blithely...
Your reading comprehension skills are a bit lacking..
I don't disagree with you. I'm simply saying that the windows 7 boxes will still work the morning after support is officially over, nothing really changes over night. Unless some huge security risk is discovered, these boxes will slowly drift out of date and into more and more of a security risk over time as the patches are not kept up to date. This means that the loss of support deadline, really is kind of a soft one, that the NHS likely has more tim
Re: (Score:2)
You don't need to compromise the mainframe to gain access to the data on it, if you compromise the clients of those who access the data or those who manage the mainframe or those who manage the backups etc.
That's the typical approach on a pentest or redteam where non windows (mainframes, appliances, unix etc) are involved... Compromise the domain first, find the users or admins and key log them and monitor what they're doing. Go after the path of least resistance.
That brings up another point, a windows doma
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
That's the whole point, it's out of support but it's still vulnerable... There are MANY companies out there still using it (and even older systems) for various things, and many of these are under the false impression that it's not affected by newer vulnerabilities.
Normal for the public sector (Score:5, Interesting)
This is par for the course in the public sector. There will be no resources for any work unless something is on fire or it is a pet project of a very high-ranking employee.
I did a stint as the director of technology for a school division as Windows XP was nearing EOL. There simply weren't enough resources (ie. people) to upgrade every workstation to Windows 7. And I ran a really tight ship. We could remotely image workstations thanks to FOG and could administer every workstation remotely. Even so, we were so busy putting out fires that we only got about 75% done by the April deadline. We did manage to finish up over the following summer break, but even that was a struggle.
Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's so easy to upgrade, and it was even free to upgrade for a long time.
We're talking about the NHS. Many of those machines could well be textbook examples of Windows PCs connected to very expensive, very specialised equipment that might or might not work post-upgrade. And if it doesn't, well, actual people might actually die as a result. An organisation-wide upgrade isn't going to be easy. Assuming it goes ahead at all, it could be literally the most challenging Windows 10 upgrade ever performed anywhere.
Also, the upgrade wasn't free for enterprises.
Re: (Score:2)
The USA has the same issue in research facilities and doctor's offices. The NHS is hardly unique in this saense.
Re: (Score:2)
In the USA we don't have one group responsible for every desktop/laptop in every doctor's office, hospital, medical clinic, etc.
NHS actually is *unique* in this sense.
Re: (Score:1)
In the USA we don't have one group responsible for every desktop/laptop in every doctor's office, hospital, medical clinic, etc.
NHS actually is *unique* in this sense.
IT in the NHS is largely devolved to individual trusts so there isn't really a single organisation to handle this.
Re: (Score:2)
It's so easy to upgrade, and it was even free to upgrade for a long time.
It's free for them to upgrade now - they are paying Software Assurance fees annually that includes licenses to run the latest version of Windows and Office. They have been paying these fees every year, and they could have upgraded at ZERO incremental cost over what they already pay - they choose not to.
Re: (Score:2)
It's free for them to upgrade now - they are paying Software Assurance fees annually that includes licenses to run the latest version of Windows and Office. They have been paying these fees every year, and they could have upgraded at ZERO incremental cost over what they already pay - they choose not to.
The cost of software assurance pails in comparison to the cost of minimising/eliminating disruption to critical systems. I'm in a non-health related organisation and testing our applications for compatibility with our Win10 image is a mammoth effort, let alone fixing the issues that come from having a locked down environment. Don't forget all the change management - both process and organisational - that will need to occur as well.
I cannot imagine the enormity of migrating an entire nations health system t
Re: (Score:2)
The vast majority of those machines are not connected to specialised equipment... Most of them are just desktop workstations used for generic office tasks. But upgrading them still has a significant cost and the NHS has a very tight budget.
Re: (Score:2)
It's so easy to upgrade, and it was even free to upgrade for a long time.
They are paying annual license fees, the upgrade was, and still is, free - license fees aren't the problem, it's likely the applications that run on the machines or the machines themselves, many were likely delivered to NHS running WinXP and simply aren't up to the task of supporting Windows 10.
You imagine NHS has sufficient budget to pay for the IT workforce needed to upgrade 3/4 million desktops? I suspect the NHS budget is a bit tighter than that.
Re: (Score:3)
Why oh why are we paying needless windows licensing for the NHS?
Because that's what the millions of specialist devices and software applications used throughout the NHS are compatible with?
Move to Linux... it would be cheaper to have a team who even put together "NHS Linux" as a distribution for crying out loud.
You seem to be looking at this as if money is the problem. I think you missed the other 99% of what makes it difficult.
Re: (Score:2)
If an organisation the size of NHS migrated to linux, healthcare providers would start providing linux versions rather than lose such a big customer...
The vast majority of machines in use at the NHS don't run any specialised software, they are generic office workstations used for email. Some of those machines which are specialised also don't run windows, there are even still IRIX machines controlling various pieces of old but very expensive medical equipment. These specialised machines are kept and managed
Re: (Score:2)
Move to Linux... it would be cheaper to have a team who even put together "NHS Linux" as a distribution for crying out loud.
The OS selection isn't the issue, it's the applications they run. You are asking NHS to draft specifications for every application they use, ship them somewhere like India, and have an infinite number of coders simply "recreate" every application they use, and provide on-going internal support for one of them for the rest of their useful life. That certainly sounds a whole lot cheaper than simply paying a license fee for the Windows OS.
BTW, NHS has insufficient resources to properly manage the infrastructur
Re: (Score:2)
How many of these custom applications are currently web based, and would run fine on any platform capable of running a modern browser?
If you want to migrate, it has to be planned over time. Any applications you're using are going to be upgraded or replaced within a few years anyway, so ensure that any new deployments are web based (which is largely already happening). The number of things which are tied to a specific platform is decreasing over time and already fairly small...
In the medical field there are
Don't worry.... (Score:2)
Having so many machines still running Windows 7 is a problem, according to Jo Platt MP, shadow cabinet office minister, as the end of extended support in January 2020 will mean no more fixes and patches without a costly custom-support deal
They'll pay. And pay.
The Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
"Having so many machines still running Windows...is a problem...."
There, fixed that for him.
Re: (Score:2)
Why? (Score:2)
They've had literally years of warning/notice that Windows 7 was going to be EOL this year, why couldn't they upgrade their infrastructure?
It's hard? (They had years.)
It's expensive? (No, they pay an annual license fee for each desktop that gives them access to current/latest software - Software Assurance - license-wise it costs nothing, replacing their aging desktops/laptops that can't support Windows 10 will get expensive)
They don't want to? (Probably, it would have been a multi-year effort, and the NHS h
Re: (Score:2)
NHS (Score:2)
That will be the understaffed, underfunded NHS who rightly care more about patients than updating windows
They have locked down all the PC's due to a ransomware attack so they are pretty well protected now, they run on their own very protected network, so they don't really have as much worry as a regular users machine
Typical NHS (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They wave a three year window to find a replacement...
Re: (Score:2)
Hardware that will not run on anything newer and the developers no longer exist.
You mean like the medical imaging devices that run on SGI IRIX machines?
Just because certain specialist equipment is tied to an obsolete proprietary platform, doesn't mean everything else has to be. Keep all this old cruft isolated, and manage it separately from generic office desktops (which is what the vast majority of these windows 7 machines are).
Re: (Score:2)
Any healthcare is going to have these costs, wether you are paying for it directly or indirectly through taxes. A single large healthcare provider is going to have economies of scale that a large group of smaller healthcare providers do not. In other countries you will still find that around 2% of the population are employed in the healthcare field, just not for a single organisation, and the companies that employ these people still have to pay their employees and generate a profit for themselves.
The same n
Re: (Score:2)
And how do you do that?
Microsoft keep acquiring new address space, difficult to keep track of.
Microsoft use various third party CDNs, so better block those.
Microsoft host various third party sites through azure.
If you want to block all of microsoft you will end up blocking a significant proportion of the public internet, if you don't then you will end up letting something through.