So, as part of my job I end up posted in a different hospital to where I had previously worked.
I, however, was rather surprised at the IT infrastructure they had there. There were no PCs at all. Instead, there were thin clients, which logged into a Windows 2000 AS / Citrix metaframe server.
I can understand that it greatly simplifies administration - but OMG sooo slooow, and I was getting really, really narced off with windows running in 640x480.
Oh, and the main app that I have to use is actually telnet/ VT420 based. So I use a terminal which connects to the W2k AS, which then opens another terminal connection to the application server. The latency on that is ridiculous.
I'll spare you my rant about one of the other core apps - in this case, it's clearly some sort of web based app, but it runs within it's own custom browser (presumably, because clicking 'back' would seriously break things). But it could be a teaching example of how not to design a UI - it requires both mouse and keyboard input, when one alone would do - it doesn't support the normal scroll wheel, key press shortcuts that IE and other software does, etc.
Actually, I was so distracted by the thin clients, that I forgot they had a generator test at my main hospital. I wonder how they managed, as none of the IT infrastructure is either on generator supply, nor is much of it on UPS. So all the servers will be down for the duration of the test, and will likely take 4-6 hours to reboot and the databases sync up once the main power comes back.
I, however, was rather surprised at the IT infrastructure they had there. There were no PCs at all. Instead, there were thin clients, which logged into a Windows 2000 AS / Citrix metaframe server.
I can understand that it greatly simplifies administration - but OMG sooo slooow, and I was getting really, really narced off with windows running in 640x480.
Oh, and the main app that I have to use is actually telnet/ VT420 based. So I use a terminal which connects to the W2k AS, which then opens another terminal connection to the application server. The latency on that is ridiculous.
I'll spare you my rant about one of the other core apps - in this case, it's clearly some sort of web based app, but it runs within it's own custom browser (presumably, because clicking 'back' would seriously break things). But it could be a teaching example of how not to design a UI - it requires both mouse and keyboard input, when one alone would do - it doesn't support the normal scroll wheel, key press shortcuts that IE and other software does, etc.
Actually, I was so distracted by the thin clients, that I forgot they had a generator test at my main hospital. I wonder how they managed, as none of the IT infrastructure is either on generator supply, nor is much of it on UPS. So all the servers will be down for the duration of the test, and will likely take 4-6 hours to reboot and the databases sync up once the main power comes back.
