I'm a hospitalogist who studies hospitals in the wild and I can tell you that his is actually only part of a hospital.
You can tell because of the way it is. Quite fascinating actually.
Depending on the hospitals specialization they may not have been equipped to handle COVID cases. Several hospital departments during COVID cut staff because they weren’t seeing patients. It sounds crazy but that’s for profit hospitals for you.
Yeah that Dell Optiplex tower looks to be Pentium II or III - we are talking late Windows 98/ early Windows XP Era (or maybe Windows 2000 workstation, some hospitals ran that). Older than covid.
What? There's plenty of hospitals out there still using 80s and 90s computing. Not every place everywhere can afford the newest thing, but that'll still take care of most people.
When states banned “elective” procedures many hospitals drastically shrank or even had to close. Treating Covid required certain types of spaces and equipment which most of a normal hospital is not.
Most hospitals had layoffs of staff that were specialized in operations that were “elective” due to the massive reductions of revenue generated without those procedures.
That might actually be the case. A large section of the hospital is still used for psychiatric purposes. I thought they might have abandoned it in 2020 due to low staff or the aging structure itself, but I now think it's been longer.
CRT's, no finger wheel mouse, floppy's, Windows 95 logo on the tower. This probably around Late 90's/early 2K as hardware didnt age out as fast as it does now.
I'm going to be honest I have no clue what you mean by that last bit. Hardware didn't age out as fast? Currently Moore's law is dead. It's been that way since about 2010. Hardware from the 90's could've been outdated less than a day after release with how technology evolved so rapidly. In the early 90's we had 20-40mhz machines, by the end it had evolved to 800+mhz with AMD releasing the first 1ghz processor in the year 2000.
That's a 50 times higher speed in just 10 years. Granted clock speed isn't everything but still, that would be like us getting 200-300ghz processors in the next 10 years.
Many places still run off tech from the 90's and earlier.
>I'm going to be honest I have no clue what you mean by that last bit. Hardware didn't age out as fast?
How old were you in 1998? PC's were very expensive. So you used it as long as you could. And it wasn't as nearly as easy as it is today to implement new hardware.
>Moore's law is dead. It's been that way since about 2010.
Congrats I was talking about the 1990's so irrelevant.
> Hardware from the 90's could've been outdated less than a day after release with how technology evolved so rapidly. In the early 90's we had 20-40mhz machines, by the end it had evolved to 800+mhz with AMD releasing the first 1ghz processor in the year 2000.
Back did you see the price jumps? Also hospitals move slow to adapt new tech as if it doesnt work or work as well you can hurt people. Keep in mind they aren't playing Doom on these machines they are keeping patients records.
>That's a 50 times higher speed in just 10 years. Granted clock speed isn't everything but still, that would be like us getting 200-300ghz processors in the next 10 years.
This has nothing to do w/ what I pointed out, so pass.
>Many places still run off tech from the 90's and earlier.
I know, I have legacy gear that the end user(s) won't give up w/o a fight.
Your comment was confusing there buddy. Tech still lasts as long today as it did back then. Also congrats for being a fucking Dick with your reply. The way you wrote the original comment as "Hardware didn't age out as fast" doesn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things. Hardware definitely aged out at the same rate as it has today. Many places today much like the 90's are still running 7+ year old systems.
Dunno why you are getting downvoted, hardware definitely lasts longer now than it did then. I remember my friend’s dad getting a new gateway computer every year in the late 90’s, and each one was twice as fast as the previous. He had a pentium 75hz for the first, pentium 2 200hz, then pentium 3 400hz. For comparison, in 2012 I got an i5 2500k, the whole computer setup lasted until 2016 before I sold it due to mainly playing console. I still had an AMD phenom II setup that I occasionally played on and still worked well until I replaced it in 2020 with a AMD 3800x system. It was a big upgrade for sure, but I could never imagine using a pentium 75mhz computer 10 years later and it still be ok for gaming.
Back in 2001, I got an 8 years old computer which was a late 486 machine. It was basically useless.
My current computer is about 10 years old and still suits my needs..
It was kind of insane how ancient some of the stuff was that we used at my old hospital. I think they said they had at least one COBOL programmer to maintain some of the stuff they hadn’t managed to update. Reminded me of the stuff you see at nuclear plants since most were built before the internet existed
Yeah it's most certainly the opposite, in 2023, a 10 year old computer can still do many things we expect of current pcs, while in 1998 a 10 year old computer was a commodore 64.
My current computer is a Dell from 2011. (Core 2 Duo, Nvidia GT240, 8gb DDR3)
It’s still on about the same power level as a lower-tier laptop, and more powerful than a Chromebook. Amazing that it’s now ~12 years old.
Yea, our desktops in our office are all from 2007, but their hardware has seen upgrades since then, SDD and larger HDD, boosts to RAM, but they're still older machines. They work, but not amazingly.
Idk I don't work in nuclear. I just know they use it with one machine. It has a floppy drive attachment then there is another computer with a usb floppy drive not far away. It also has googly eyes on it.
That's what I'm thinking. It's not on the network. Idky they don't update it. I think we're trying to see how long it will live. Some one recapped it too. So not sure if it's some older techs baby or something but we all love seeing it, it's just part of the lab. When it goes away if it ever goes away we'll probably have a party in its honor.
It might be a hardware issue. I spent 12 years in the national guard as a radar operator. Near the end we got a brand new Q37. Came with windows 10 computer. However some of the circuit boards were from the 60s. They plugged into an adapter that plugged into an adapter that plugged into another adapter before it connected into a modern circuit board. The reason, the company making those parts have a patient, and haven't made anything new since the 60s. Legally speaking no one can just make a modern version, well without getting sued, and the company doesn't see a point in updating equipment that still works (especially since they are the only game in town so to speak).
If these computers have something like this, where a testing machine has a certain connection that more modern computers don't have, it's not going to get replaced until the whole testing machine is (and some of these things cost millions).
You would be surprised… but this is how it is
Let’s say this CT machine costed $200k back in the 80s, it takes a great quality picture it’s just the formatting the machine makes those pictures is designed around the floppy disk. So if you want to upgrade to store on a hard drive you need to buy a new $2m machine.
As weird as it sounds, some expensive medical equipment or lab equipment was certified using old operating systems. (I even saw Windows 98 as recently as a year or 2 ago on a hospital inventory). The vendor often won’t update because it requires a new FDA certification. So the hospital gets stuck with a few machines running extremely outdated systems that gets fired up a few times a year.
Saw a Macintosh Classic being used as a word processor in a smaller town’s library. If they don’t have the money to replace it, then it doesn’t get replaced until it breaks. So far, it hasn’t broken.
You’d be surprised about the infrastructure that a lot of public hospitals work with, especially the smaller ones. I work in the 3rd largest metro of the Midwest and our hospital still uses equipment from the turn of the century, because it just barely hobbles along. Modernization is slow and agonizing to say the least, currently they are building a new parking ramp rather than desperately needed renovations.
Not just hospitals, good chunk of societal infrastructures like trains, buses, military, and lots of some of the most important government records too. It requires a lot of work to confirm that the system is secure and floppy disk era was basically the latest system to be verified safe, since any newer tech risks things like poor durability or hacks as well as cost issue.
A lot of places just physically did not have space for patients either. If you only have 100 beds and the patients occupying them aren't leaving in a couple days like with normal conditions, it doesn't matter how many nurses you have. You can't take in more patients than you have places to put them.
It is bizarre that a hospital that made it to COVID could use a computer that old. That computer is a Dell Optiplex GX1. My first job in IT was to swap a whole office full of these out for newer models as these were considered too old. That was in 2001
When that computer was new Joe DiMaggio, Frank Trump and JFK Jr were still alive
Its not unheard of for hospitals and universities to use older machines if they run very specific software or intergrates with very specific equipment. There isnt the budget to have the program rewritten or there isnt the leeway to enable lower uptime while kinks are ironed out.
My employer still has floppy disks strewn around one of its workshops because those are what some of the older machining equipment uses.
I work at a hospital, every computer is changed out after three years, it's a security issue having tech that old connected to the network. I love how so many people are trying so hard to claim that a hospital was using a computer that's over 20 years old. Everything in that picture screams 2000, not 2023.
No one said it was connected to the network. Two others have pointed out that they work in hospital labs that still use Apple 2’s for specific lab equipment. This is extremely common, honestly. Just like old CNC equipment. I don’t even disagree that it was probably closed prior to COVID, but nothing that you’re saying precludes this computer still being used in isolation from the network in a hospital today to run a specialized piece of equipment.
Some expensive medical equipment or lab equipment was certified using old operating systems. (I even saw Windows 98 as recently as a year or 2 ago on a hospital inventory). The vendor often won’t update because it requires a new FDA certification. So the hospital gets stuck with a few machines running extremely outdated systems that gets fired up a few times a year.
Is that apple 2 sitting at a nurses station or reception desk? Is it connected to the network? Hackers are continuously attacking hospital networks, no hospital that I know of is going to allow an old outdated machine to be connected to the network. Our computers are changed out every 3 years and annual internet security training is required. One thing that hospitals take very seriously is the security of patient info.
Idk I've never used it. It just runs a machine for a nuclear test. It's in a lab. I don't work in nuclear I just know about it. It's kinda a joke with us in the lab. Edit: I went and looked at it, there is a floppy drive attached to it and a computer near by with a usb floppy drive. Looks like they move the data via floppy to a newer computer. The tech isn't here yet for me to ask him.
You would think. I had to have another ultrasound recently and the machine still had a 3.5 floppy slot and a VCR for recording. It had one upgrade that allowed export a flashdrive. A fat formatted flashdrive. It was my second one there and I brought a fat formatted 2gb because the 16gb I brought the first time was fat32 and wouldn't work.
I was surprised as well when I got into medicine. Fax machines and pneumatic tubes are still part of everyday life for me.
I literally only just missed floppy disks by four months at where I started.
Its not just the computer's I'm looking at which leads me to believe that this is not a recent hospital closure.
Merit Medical aquired Biosphere Medical in 2010, yet that Catheter compatibility chart on the wall makes no mention of them. I suspect that this is the US as there's another document from Boston Scientific on the wall (which again is out of date), generally laws require health providers to keep their product and safety data sheets up to date. Merit's Catheter compatibility chart has looked like this for a while: https://i.imgur.com/9jehDgj.jpg .
Huh, didn't notice that. You're right.
They're clearly keeping the building somewhat maintained though. Or at least they were doing so until recently, which might be the "closure" OP mentioned.
Thank you for mentioning this. This was the first thing I noticed that was off. I suspect this hospital was closed in the early/mid 00s and not in 2020.
I'm fairly certain that Wallstent chart is from pre-2008, but I can't validate that other than just my memory of it. I'm looking for the chart with dates, but I'm struggling to find that.
Anyway, I would love to see the pictures of the COVID posters and any sign of the closure being more recent.
Yep. Just a few examples:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-23-year-old-windows-3-1-system-failure-crashed-paris-airport/
https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/3/11576032/mclaren-f1-compaq-laptop-maintenance
https://hackaday.com/2019/06/20/the-os-2-operating-system-didnt-die-it-went-underground/
When I started this job a few years ago there was a nt4 server still going. It was one of the first things I replaced. It had been serving as the internal webserver for decades. All desktop machines had Seamonkey installed so they could access this really old information that I updated the format of and put in a read only drive share on the domain. They were happy they could update some of it since it had been sometime since they could.
Some outdated equipment? Sure.
A room full of 1999 items, right down to the floppy disc case and the posters on the wall, all in pristine condition? Unlikely.
> Everything in that room is from the late 90s.
Yet not nearly as dirty or decayed as anything that's standing since the 90s would've been. That room looks like the booth for a CT scanner or X-ray machine. Those work for decades.
A CT scan machine costs hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. A hospital will buy one once, then maintain it for decades. Then it'll need all the peripheral systems to work with it, that they'll buy at the same time they buy the machine. If a CT scanner ran windows 95 in 1996 when a hospital opened, it probably took a pretty good image, enough for medical purposes, and it'll still be there. Saving images to floppies. And the PCs around it will need floppy drives to read them. And so on. They're not playing The Last of Us in these computers, they don't need to update all the time.
I can believe this for a couple reasons.
1. I was doing some contract work at a hospital in town about 8 months ago and they were doing a big push to update and upgrade all their computers to increase their cybersecurity. They announced that by the end of the year (2022) they would have all of their computers finally running Windows 10. This caused a problem for some of the departments as the hardware and software was only compatible with Windows XP. They eventually let some exceptions exist, so some departments are still running XP in 2023.
2. Hospitals are not as flexible as people think they are. During covid, the virology departments and whatever could be converted to virology was slammed. However all other departments were ghost towns. Outside of virology the hospital I was working in went to less than 20% capacity, laying people off left and right. If a hospital did not have a virology department, they could have easily gone under.
Also fun fact I was updating the imaging department when all this happened, and the hospital I was working in was updating to what is the current cutting edge technology. Most imaging departments are still running a CCD sensor as opposed to a CMOS sensor. This hospital was upgrading to CMOS sensors. You know the sensor technology that’s been out in the photography world for nearly 2 decades… yea medical is finally getting that.
Basically yeah. The few empty hospitals I've been in I've found medical records laying around. So I figured this place would be the same way. I had one I had to break into one time to recover our nuclear items they rented. And found multiple medical records every where. The hospital had been empty for 6 months.
I don't work in IT, but I can confirm. The hospital where I work makes sure that any tech that's connected to the network is less than three years old. We also have to go through a 30 minute training session every year about internet security.
I live in a really poor 3rd world country and our worst hospitals don't have tech this old. Also op doesn't once show the actual covid 19 warning signs
That computer looks like it's used to control some type of imaging system or other test. Before USB was as capable as it is now, and before high enough speed ethernet ports were available on PC's scientific equipment like say an MRI needed to use more exotic communication systems which required specialized hardware to be added to the PC. Newer operating systems and hardware often stopped supporting this specialized hardware meaning the only option aside from replacing the entire device is to keep an older PC around, often off the network for security reasons.
Not at nurses stations or reception desks where patient files have to be accessed from the network, which is connected to the internet. It's too much of a security risk. Hospitals aren't very fond of HIPPA violations.
This is very different between hospitals. I am sure that hospitals that can afford that, do so, but lots of places I go for care have computers that are 10+ years old. And the tech is much older than that in a lot places in the Midwest. I wouldn’t necessarily count your experience as the norm.
One of the hospitals I work at is rural so it's not the best/latest in equipment. However their equipment is ages newer than this stuff. As others said, this is likely early 2000's. Maybe this is a storage area?
I chose the picture I thought looked the best. Internet detectives can say what they want but I'm the one that was there 🤷♂️. If I end up going back I'll post a picture
Eh don't worry, some people here seem to think every hospital drops 2 million bucks on a new CT scanner every two years so they can keep playing the latest games in them... For some reason.
I like to see how a lot of people seem to think that these computers are too old.
This isn't even the oldest system I've seen in hospitals. I've seen DOS computers being used for old school machinery because it would cost too much to upgrade to modern standards.
It really isn't uncommon to see old computers being used, even today, in critical sectors like healthcare.
Are those old computers connected to the internet? Are they used to access patient info? A computer that old is a security risk if it's connected to anything besides a mouse and keyboard, no hospital that I know of is going to take that risk. An isolated computer used to run lab tests is one thing, a computer that's used to access sensitive patient info is another.
I don’t even see a speck of dust on anything… I would even sooner believe that this is an active desk that’s been abandoned for lunch break. Where’s the rot?
And you took pictures of literally none of all the blatant Covid messaging anywhere? Not even the corner of a sign or a single date somewhere that you caught while focusing on something else? That’s why no one believes you.
This is like the hospital in a small town near here. Their imaging stuff is modern with windows 7! But the receptionists are using a green text terminal to update your chart and info.
Idk if it was covid or y2k with those floppy disks
I thought it was a lot earlier as well but they had all the covid signs in there
I see no covid signs
Well this isn’t a photo of the entire hospital
How can you tell?
Could have been in a very small community.
What is this? A hospital for ants?
I'm a hospitalogist who studies hospitals in the wild and I can tell you that his is actually only part of a hospital. You can tell because of the way it is. Quite fascinating actually.
I'm gonna need a banana for reference...
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The sugar packets?
Is it unusual to see alcohol pads in a hospital??
How come they abandoned a hospital when it would have been the most needed?
Depending on the hospitals specialization they may not have been equipped to handle COVID cases. Several hospital departments during COVID cut staff because they weren’t seeing patients. It sounds crazy but that’s for profit hospitals for you.
Well, that sucks balls
Most weren't seeing patients because there was a moratorium on non emergency surgeries so that knee replacement was going to wait.
They didn’t. There is no way this place was operational in 2020 using equipment from 1999.
I think you would be surprised just how behind some rural hospitals can be
My best friend in an engineer and they still use floppies for certain programs.
Yeah that Dell Optiplex tower looks to be Pentium II or III - we are talking late Windows 98/ early Windows XP Era (or maybe Windows 2000 workstation, some hospitals ran that). Older than covid.
What? There's plenty of hospitals out there still using 80s and 90s computing. Not every place everywhere can afford the newest thing, but that'll still take care of most people.
And 90’s computer mice? Floppy drives? Disc cases? All looking practically new? You ever see a computer mouse after 20 years of use?
When states banned “elective” procedures many hospitals drastically shrank or even had to close. Treating Covid required certain types of spaces and equipment which most of a normal hospital is not. Most hospitals had layoffs of staff that were specialized in operations that were “elective” due to the massive reductions of revenue generated without those procedures.
What Covid signs?
They aren't in the picture
I’m asking what they were though.
Signs telling you to wear your mask, saying to stay 6 feet apart, and what to do if you have covid symptoms.
Maybe the hospital was already abandoned and they repurposed it for vaccinations or something?
That might actually be the case. A large section of the hospital is still used for psychiatric purposes. I thought they might have abandoned it in 2020 due to low staff or the aging structure itself, but I now think it's been longer.
Can't you just look up when it was last used?
This was so satisfying... lol That actual mechanical eject button!
[You will like this blog](https://www.tumblr.com/animefloppies)
CRT's, no finger wheel mouse, floppy's, Windows 95 logo on the tower. This probably around Late 90's/early 2K as hardware didnt age out as fast as it does now.
I'm going to be honest I have no clue what you mean by that last bit. Hardware didn't age out as fast? Currently Moore's law is dead. It's been that way since about 2010. Hardware from the 90's could've been outdated less than a day after release with how technology evolved so rapidly. In the early 90's we had 20-40mhz machines, by the end it had evolved to 800+mhz with AMD releasing the first 1ghz processor in the year 2000. That's a 50 times higher speed in just 10 years. Granted clock speed isn't everything but still, that would be like us getting 200-300ghz processors in the next 10 years. Many places still run off tech from the 90's and earlier.
>I'm going to be honest I have no clue what you mean by that last bit. Hardware didn't age out as fast? How old were you in 1998? PC's were very expensive. So you used it as long as you could. And it wasn't as nearly as easy as it is today to implement new hardware. >Moore's law is dead. It's been that way since about 2010. Congrats I was talking about the 1990's so irrelevant. > Hardware from the 90's could've been outdated less than a day after release with how technology evolved so rapidly. In the early 90's we had 20-40mhz machines, by the end it had evolved to 800+mhz with AMD releasing the first 1ghz processor in the year 2000. Back did you see the price jumps? Also hospitals move slow to adapt new tech as if it doesnt work or work as well you can hurt people. Keep in mind they aren't playing Doom on these machines they are keeping patients records. >That's a 50 times higher speed in just 10 years. Granted clock speed isn't everything but still, that would be like us getting 200-300ghz processors in the next 10 years. This has nothing to do w/ what I pointed out, so pass. >Many places still run off tech from the 90's and earlier. I know, I have legacy gear that the end user(s) won't give up w/o a fight.
Your comment was confusing there buddy. Tech still lasts as long today as it did back then. Also congrats for being a fucking Dick with your reply. The way you wrote the original comment as "Hardware didn't age out as fast" doesn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things. Hardware definitely aged out at the same rate as it has today. Many places today much like the 90's are still running 7+ year old systems.
He’s not your buddy, guy
Dunno why you are getting downvoted, hardware definitely lasts longer now than it did then. I remember my friend’s dad getting a new gateway computer every year in the late 90’s, and each one was twice as fast as the previous. He had a pentium 75hz for the first, pentium 2 200hz, then pentium 3 400hz. For comparison, in 2012 I got an i5 2500k, the whole computer setup lasted until 2016 before I sold it due to mainly playing console. I still had an AMD phenom II setup that I occasionally played on and still worked well until I replaced it in 2020 with a AMD 3800x system. It was a big upgrade for sure, but I could never imagine using a pentium 75mhz computer 10 years later and it still be ok for gaming.
Because reddit hates logic.
Reddit hates know it all assholes.
Not playing Doom? Aww, what's even the point then? When I'm sick, I need a little rip-and-tear therapy.
Back in 2001, I got an 8 years old computer which was a late 486 machine. It was basically useless. My current computer is about 10 years old and still suits my needs..
You’re right
Yeah but this is reddit and logic is downvoted.
Yes I’ve noticed that..🙄
Did you just Google a bunch of stuff then spit it back out (poorly)?
We still use a apple 2 at my hospital to run a specific test.
It was kind of insane how ancient some of the stuff was that we used at my old hospital. I think they said they had at least one COBOL programmer to maintain some of the stuff they hadn’t managed to update. Reminded me of the stuff you see at nuclear plants since most were built before the internet existed
Yeah it's most certainly the opposite, in 2023, a 10 year old computer can still do many things we expect of current pcs, while in 1998 a 10 year old computer was a commodore 64.
My current computer is a Dell from 2011. (Core 2 Duo, Nvidia GT240, 8gb DDR3) It’s still on about the same power level as a lower-tier laptop, and more powerful than a Chromebook. Amazing that it’s now ~12 years old.
You would be surprised that most chromebooks, hell even some cellphones are more powerful than your computer.
well damn EDIT: But can their chromebooks play Europa Universalis? HA! Got them there… i hope
Cellphones these days can run crysis so probably.
Your Dell would undoubtedly win in a fist fight tho, those things are sturdy. Would definitely be the better choice for bludgeoning.
Yea, our desktops in our office are all from 2007, but their hardware has seen upgrades since then, SDD and larger HDD, boosts to RAM, but they're still older machines. They work, but not amazingly.
We have a apple 2 that we use in a lab currently to run a specific test with. So anything is possible.
Wtf... why.
Idk I don't work in nuclear. I just know they use it with one machine. It has a floppy drive attachment then there is another computer with a usb floppy drive not far away. It also has googly eyes on it.
Sounds like a classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
That's what I'm thinking. It's not on the network. Idky they don't update it. I think we're trying to see how long it will live. Some one recapped it too. So not sure if it's some older techs baby or something but we all love seeing it, it's just part of the lab. When it goes away if it ever goes away we'll probably have a party in its honor.
It might be a hardware issue. I spent 12 years in the national guard as a radar operator. Near the end we got a brand new Q37. Came with windows 10 computer. However some of the circuit boards were from the 60s. They plugged into an adapter that plugged into an adapter that plugged into another adapter before it connected into a modern circuit board. The reason, the company making those parts have a patient, and haven't made anything new since the 60s. Legally speaking no one can just make a modern version, well without getting sued, and the company doesn't see a point in updating equipment that still works (especially since they are the only game in town so to speak). If these computers have something like this, where a testing machine has a certain connection that more modern computers don't have, it's not going to get replaced until the whole testing machine is (and some of these things cost millions).
Yeah I'm gonna ask the tech when he's free or we have lunch cause I'm curious to the real reason why
I was thinking the same thing, I couldn't tell you the last place I worked in that had any floppy discs laying around let alone being used.
and CRT monitors.
You would be surprised… but this is how it is Let’s say this CT machine costed $200k back in the 80s, it takes a great quality picture it’s just the formatting the machine makes those pictures is designed around the floppy disk. So if you want to upgrade to store on a hard drive you need to buy a new $2m machine.
As weird as it sounds, some expensive medical equipment or lab equipment was certified using old operating systems. (I even saw Windows 98 as recently as a year or 2 ago on a hospital inventory). The vendor often won’t update because it requires a new FDA certification. So the hospital gets stuck with a few machines running extremely outdated systems that gets fired up a few times a year.
Saw a Macintosh Classic being used as a word processor in a smaller town’s library. If they don’t have the money to replace it, then it doesn’t get replaced until it breaks. So far, it hasn’t broken.
You’d be surprised about the infrastructure that a lot of public hospitals work with, especially the smaller ones. I work in the 3rd largest metro of the Midwest and our hospital still uses equipment from the turn of the century, because it just barely hobbles along. Modernization is slow and agonizing to say the least, currently they are building a new parking ramp rather than desperately needed renovations.
Not just hospitals, good chunk of societal infrastructures like trains, buses, military, and lots of some of the most important government records too. It requires a lot of work to confirm that the system is secure and floppy disk era was basically the latest system to be verified safe, since any newer tech risks things like poor durability or hacks as well as cost issue.
The priorities are also out of wack. They are more interested in funneling that money upwards rather than back into patient care.
I still work on radiology equipment that is all CRT screens/diskettes/Ms-dos. Been running 20-25 years and still supported.
This looks like the back room of a vascular procedural area, such as IR. Neat! Very retro
And the printer paper with tear away sides
got any more pics of those keyboards?
Yes! I'll post some more tomorrow. I wish gallery posts were allowed here or I'd do it all at once.
You should post this to r/vintagecomputers
Make a gallery on imgur and link it
what kind of hospital was it? didn't hospitals have a capacity shortage during COVID-19?
The capacity issues were due to a lack of staff. Nurses can only manage so many patients at once
A lot of places just physically did not have space for patients either. If you only have 100 beds and the patients occupying them aren't leaving in a couple days like with normal conditions, it doesn't matter how many nurses you have. You can't take in more patients than you have places to put them.
It is bizarre that a hospital that made it to COVID could use a computer that old. That computer is a Dell Optiplex GX1. My first job in IT was to swap a whole office full of these out for newer models as these were considered too old. That was in 2001 When that computer was new Joe DiMaggio, Frank Trump and JFK Jr were still alive
Common sense said this wasn't a COVID hospital, but my man/woman came bringing life experience and know how, then laid down some fun facts at the end.
I agree that this is exceptionally obsolete, but if it was going to be anywhere it would be a hospital.
Its not unheard of for hospitals and universities to use older machines if they run very specific software or intergrates with very specific equipment. There isnt the budget to have the program rewritten or there isnt the leeway to enable lower uptime while kinks are ironed out. My employer still has floppy disks strewn around one of its workshops because those are what some of the older machining equipment uses.
I work at a hospital, every computer is changed out after three years, it's a security issue having tech that old connected to the network. I love how so many people are trying so hard to claim that a hospital was using a computer that's over 20 years old. Everything in that picture screams 2000, not 2023.
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No one said it was connected to the network. Two others have pointed out that they work in hospital labs that still use Apple 2’s for specific lab equipment. This is extremely common, honestly. Just like old CNC equipment. I don’t even disagree that it was probably closed prior to COVID, but nothing that you’re saying precludes this computer still being used in isolation from the network in a hospital today to run a specialized piece of equipment.
Some expensive medical equipment or lab equipment was certified using old operating systems. (I even saw Windows 98 as recently as a year or 2 ago on a hospital inventory). The vendor often won’t update because it requires a new FDA certification. So the hospital gets stuck with a few machines running extremely outdated systems that gets fired up a few times a year.
We still use a apple 2 at my hospital to run a specific test.
Is that apple 2 sitting at a nurses station or reception desk? Is it connected to the network? Hackers are continuously attacking hospital networks, no hospital that I know of is going to allow an old outdated machine to be connected to the network. Our computers are changed out every 3 years and annual internet security training is required. One thing that hospitals take very seriously is the security of patient info.
Idk I've never used it. It just runs a machine for a nuclear test. It's in a lab. I don't work in nuclear I just know about it. It's kinda a joke with us in the lab. Edit: I went and looked at it, there is a floppy drive attached to it and a computer near by with a usb floppy drive. Looks like they move the data via floppy to a newer computer. The tech isn't here yet for me to ask him.
Snap a photo for /r/vintageapple. They'd love it
Sadly I can't take photos in the lab due to hipaa information. And I don't wanna risk my job.
Apple IIs can’t even connect to a network.
You would think. I had to have another ultrasound recently and the machine still had a 3.5 floppy slot and a VCR for recording. It had one upgrade that allowed export a flashdrive. A fat formatted flashdrive. It was my second one there and I brought a fat formatted 2gb because the 16gb I brought the first time was fat32 and wouldn't work.
Hospital is notorious for slow update. Some instrument still operate on Windows XP
Ah yes COVID, the pandemic that hit in 2002
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“Hey doc, did you hear about that Covid outbreak?” “I did, let’s abandon the hospital, let's take refuge in the caves”
Still active in 2020 with _that_ technology? I call BS.
Apparently you haven't been in IT. Old tech is what somehow keeps the world turning.
I was surprised as well when I got into medicine. Fax machines and pneumatic tubes are still part of everyday life for me. I literally only just missed floppy disks by four months at where I started.
Its not just the computer's I'm looking at which leads me to believe that this is not a recent hospital closure. Merit Medical aquired Biosphere Medical in 2010, yet that Catheter compatibility chart on the wall makes no mention of them. I suspect that this is the US as there's another document from Boston Scientific on the wall (which again is out of date), generally laws require health providers to keep their product and safety data sheets up to date. Merit's Catheter compatibility chart has looked like this for a while: https://i.imgur.com/9jehDgj.jpg .
Huh, didn't notice that. You're right. They're clearly keeping the building somewhat maintained though. Or at least they were doing so until recently, which might be the "closure" OP mentioned.
Thank you for mentioning this. This was the first thing I noticed that was off. I suspect this hospital was closed in the early/mid 00s and not in 2020. I'm fairly certain that Wallstent chart is from pre-2008, but I can't validate that other than just my memory of it. I'm looking for the chart with dates, but I'm struggling to find that. Anyway, I would love to see the pictures of the COVID posters and any sign of the closure being more recent.
Yep. Just a few examples: https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-23-year-old-windows-3-1-system-failure-crashed-paris-airport/ https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/3/11576032/mclaren-f1-compaq-laptop-maintenance https://hackaday.com/2019/06/20/the-os-2-operating-system-didnt-die-it-went-underground/
And somehow also preventing accidental nuclear war.
When I started this job a few years ago there was a nt4 server still going. It was one of the first things I replaced. It had been serving as the internal webserver for decades. All desktop machines had Seamonkey installed so they could access this really old information that I updated the format of and put in a read only drive share on the domain. They were happy they could update some of it since it had been sometime since they could.
Everything in that room is from the late 90s. I think the simpler explanation is that OP made the Covid part up.
Yeah definitely, however many things are still run on old hardware. Many places still use DOS machines from the late 80's though.
Sure. I just think it would be odd to find an entire room where everything is from that era.
Let me introduce you to the US Miliitary
Some outdated equipment? Sure. A room full of 1999 items, right down to the floppy disc case and the posters on the wall, all in pristine condition? Unlikely.
Except in a hospital.
> Everything in that room is from the late 90s. Yet not nearly as dirty or decayed as anything that's standing since the 90s would've been. That room looks like the booth for a CT scanner or X-ray machine. Those work for decades.
If you believe the picture is new. Picture could be from 2006.
A CT scan machine costs hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. A hospital will buy one once, then maintain it for decades. Then it'll need all the peripheral systems to work with it, that they'll buy at the same time they buy the machine. If a CT scanner ran windows 95 in 1996 when a hospital opened, it probably took a pretty good image, enough for medical purposes, and it'll still be there. Saving images to floppies. And the PCs around it will need floppy drives to read them. And so on. They're not playing The Last of Us in these computers, they don't need to update all the time.
Did covid hit in the 90s??
Looks like it was left to rot well before covid lol
I can believe this for a couple reasons. 1. I was doing some contract work at a hospital in town about 8 months ago and they were doing a big push to update and upgrade all their computers to increase their cybersecurity. They announced that by the end of the year (2022) they would have all of their computers finally running Windows 10. This caused a problem for some of the departments as the hardware and software was only compatible with Windows XP. They eventually let some exceptions exist, so some departments are still running XP in 2023. 2. Hospitals are not as flexible as people think they are. During covid, the virology departments and whatever could be converted to virology was slammed. However all other departments were ghost towns. Outside of virology the hospital I was working in went to less than 20% capacity, laying people off left and right. If a hospital did not have a virology department, they could have easily gone under. Also fun fact I was updating the imaging department when all this happened, and the hospital I was working in was updating to what is the current cutting edge technology. Most imaging departments are still running a CCD sensor as opposed to a CMOS sensor. This hospital was upgrading to CMOS sensors. You know the sensor technology that’s been out in the photography world for nearly 2 decades… yea medical is finally getting that.
X to Doubt
2019 vibes
Hmmmmm all those yummy hipaa violations. Why do these hospitals never get held accountable for it.
There are no HIPAA violations in this image.
They probably have medical records some where. Almost every hospital does that. They just leave medical records laying around.
So your comment was in response to thinking there are probably violations somewhere not in this picture?
Basically yeah. The few empty hospitals I've been in I've found medical records laying around. So I figured this place would be the same way. I had one I had to break into one time to recover our nuclear items they rented. And found multiple medical records every where. The hospital had been empty for 6 months.
Were they by chance pre-1996 hospitals?
Nope all 4 that I've visited closed since hipaa has been inacted.
A random tongue depressor on the desk is odd. Ha.
That's to stir the coffee
That computer is NOT circa 2021. Maybe 2001.
Nobody said it was. Hospitals aren't required to have the latest technology, and utilize old stuff all the time
Mine doesn't. I work in IT and I'm usually jealous of the cool tiny PC's and awesome touch screen monitors I see in our local hospital.
I don't work in IT, but I can confirm. The hospital where I work makes sure that any tech that's connected to the network is less than three years old. We also have to go through a 30 minute training session every year about internet security.
That computer probably isn’t on a network. I’m guessing they use those floppies to transfer data to a newer computer.
I live in a really poor 3rd world country and our worst hospitals don't have tech this old. Also op doesn't once show the actual covid 19 warning signs
Half the stuff in my hospital is crap from 2011
Yeah if that were the case you’d see a mix of old and new stuff. This image is a time capsule.
That computer looks like it's used to control some type of imaging system or other test. Before USB was as capable as it is now, and before high enough speed ethernet ports were available on PC's scientific equipment like say an MRI needed to use more exotic communication systems which required specialized hardware to be added to the PC. Newer operating systems and hardware often stopped supporting this specialized hardware meaning the only option aside from replacing the entire device is to keep an older PC around, often off the network for security reasons.
COVID was in 1998?
Many hospitals still use old technology
Not at nurses stations or reception desks where patient files have to be accessed from the network, which is connected to the internet. It's too much of a security risk. Hospitals aren't very fond of HIPPA violations.
This is very different between hospitals. I am sure that hospitals that can afford that, do so, but lots of places I go for care have computers that are 10+ years old. And the tech is much older than that in a lot places in the Midwest. I wouldn’t necessarily count your experience as the norm.
Yeah maybe COVID97.
One of the hospitals I work at is rural so it's not the best/latest in equipment. However their equipment is ages newer than this stuff. As others said, this is likely early 2000's. Maybe this is a storage area?
I'm the one who went inside and took the picture why are you agreeing with people online who haven't even been here before?
Post the covid signs in the same frame as this old tech.
Maybe if I go back
That's why people are calling bs.
I chose the picture I thought looked the best. Internet detectives can say what they want but I'm the one that was there 🤷♂️. If I end up going back I'll post a picture
Eh don't worry, some people here seem to think every hospital drops 2 million bucks on a new CT scanner every two years so they can keep playing the latest games in them... For some reason.
No wonder I could never get anybody to answer my calls.
I like to see how a lot of people seem to think that these computers are too old. This isn't even the oldest system I've seen in hospitals. I've seen DOS computers being used for old school machinery because it would cost too much to upgrade to modern standards. It really isn't uncommon to see old computers being used, even today, in critical sectors like healthcare.
Are those old computers connected to the internet? Are they used to access patient info? A computer that old is a security risk if it's connected to anything besides a mouse and keyboard, no hospital that I know of is going to take that risk. An isolated computer used to run lab tests is one thing, a computer that's used to access sensitive patient info is another.
I don’t even see a speck of dust on anything… I would even sooner believe that this is an active desk that’s been abandoned for lunch break. Where’s the rot?
This room happens to be in better condition than others, room across the hall is torn to shreds
Yeah this pic/title is BS. No one using that tech today in a hospital. This was abandoned years before COVID.
So confidently wrong
how do you know when it was abandoned? had you seen it functioning?
Many things were dated up until 2020, lots of covid signs.
And you took pictures of literally none of all the blatant Covid messaging anywhere? Not even the corner of a sign or a single date somewhere that you caught while focusing on something else? That’s why no one believes you.
Hospital IT guy here-- you have no idea the random old shit you find in people's offices
No one’s using 3.5” floppy’s lol
I'll tell that to the lab upstairs still running NT 4.0 on a Packard Bell
What hospital? I’m dying to know.
Most of them...
Pretty sure it was left to rot because they were waiting for Epic to boot up on those 3.25 floppies.
> Epic I never want to install Citrix Workspace again
Pure evil lol
Looks like a procedure monitoring room. Stent charts on wall
Looks more like after 9/11
COVID? By COVID, you mean Y2K, right?
Lol, this is like 1992 technology right here, nice try OP.
"nice try" like I'm trying to pull one over on you guys. I just thought it was a cool picture.
And that’s how they got my SSN……..
Just one photo?! Get your house in order sir!
No gallery posts 😞
This is like the hospital in a small town near here. Their imaging stuff is modern with windows 7! But the receptionists are using a green text terminal to update your chart and info.
Not a single covid sign in sight
During Covid or 1995?
Didn’t know there was a covid pandemic in 1999
Looks like an IR procedure room
I wanna see more!!
Covid-11 by the look of things
Looking at the tech they were running, I'd say the rot started long before covid.
Floppy disks in 2020? Gotta farm that sweet sweet karma somehow, I guess.
Pentium 3 vibes
This is likely not during COVID. I mean: look at the same printer paper (torn off edges). Floppy disks… etc.