One of the nice things about all the GDPR is that I have a full on list of websites and idiots sending me messages about updated privacy policies. Or, as I call them, DELETE ALL THE THINGS messages. I'm working my way down the list, poisoning personal data, deleting posts, scrubbing histories. Why? Because the Internet is no longer fun, and I have privacy concerns. And I honestly no longer have any fucks to give. Also, LinkedIn is shit. Seriously, why the fuck would you post anything there that is not job related? There is a curse to being knowledgeable about things. Also, fuck Microsoft. Windows 10... If my userbase was even slightly more tech savvy than the apes banging on the monolith in 2001 I'd start rolling out some Linux test beds. If you pay extra fro a fucking Pro license, you cannot kill Cortana, the Windows Store, the XBOX gaming shit, and you have to run through hoops to prevent end users from doing shenanigans on the desktops that you do not want them to do. I'm about to just say fuck it and go to all terminal servers. Also, Win7 end of life in January 2020, but any new processors won't let you install the OS, so you are stuck with Win10 or Win8.1; 8.1 pro and enterprise are a gong show all their own. Fun little side note? If you go Win10 enterprise, you can kill all the bullshit and just run an OS. No gaming garbage, no ads, no Cortana, no store. Enterprise is about double the cost of a Pro license. I've also had to explain why storing patient data, research data, HIPAA protected information etc in "THE CLOUD!" (said just like that) is not a good idea. This week, if a phone call does not go in my favor, I am killing my home internet and using the cell phone as a hot spot for the little bit of net surfing I do any more. Some days I debate whether a career change to truck driver is worth considering.
I still do LinkedIn for two reasons: 1. Validation. If you don't have a LinkedIn account, you are either a hacker or a felon, in the hiring organization's eyes. It's how they figure out if your resume is bullshit or not. 2. Finding Talent. Because you have to be on LinkedIn, it's a great place for MY hiring managers to find new talent. And the only way my company comes up in job searches for potential employees, is if my current employees post and share shit on LinkedIn. So marketing sends out links to interesting articles and regulations, and we dutifully like, comment, and share, to make sure people who want to work for us can find us in a simple search. (Oh. And I work for a SaaS company that companies like Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Idaho National Labs (nuclear power plants), and the Mayo Clinic trust their data to. So YEAH! to everything KB said.)
Eyes on the prize, captain. If they're using a cloud-based EHR, that means that the HIPAA responsibility is theirs, not yours. If you've got an encryption handshake on your side you are donezo. We've got two EHRs and a Synology. All three are encrypted. The Synology is a lot less touchy-feely; both of the EHRs can be hit with an iPad through a web browser. And look at it this way: HIPAA violations are a problem primarily from a litigation standpoint. If someone leaks your diabetes status it's not the end of the world for anybody but if the government catches you doing it it's what? $50k? Thus, the mad rush to cloud-based EHRs where single practitioners can hand it off without having to worry about it. I've had this conversation maybe a half dozen times and for any organization small enough that Siemens isn't hand-writing patches for you, the cloud-based stuff is plenty good in my opinion. You are welcome to convince me otherwise. A similar philosophy can be applied to Microsoft. I didn't full get their 365 thing until I got to a university; I give it my login and it populates my desktop, my documents, my onedrive and my preferences (and some drivers; it's fuckin' insane). I log out and it blips all that shit. Microsoft is effectively turning the whole world into dumb terminals that happen to run Windows. And to do that, it's an enterprise environment with a staff of MCSEs keeping things humming. These are the guys that are going to pay Enterprise, or heavily-discounted Enterprise, or whatever it takes so they can do what they used to do with Ghost only faster and better. And these are the organizations that Microsoft can audit and have it be worthwhile; no more swooping in to nickel'n'dime operations and checking licenses. If you've got a thousand seats they've got a good idea of where you're at. Win10 Pro then just becomes the thing that SOHO uses so they can put off updates until it isn't going to kill their business. It's not your money. Take a back seat. Say "yep, we're buying these packaged solutions now because the operation of our business is being centralized in someone else's silo. And we can fight the flow and I become your key man who holds your org on my shoulders like Atlas, or we can jump in the river with everyone else and all drown together."
I deleted my LinkedIn account even before I left college. I failed to see any value in it, and they kept sending me emails no matter what I changed my preferences to. Never looked back. Occasionally I get a surprised reaction when I tell people I'm not in LinkedIn, but you know what, I quite like my current job and I'm not looking for a new one. Word. I actually bought a new gaming laptop yesterday, long overdue. Turns out Dell sells a gaming laptop running Ubuntu! It was incredibly hard to find on their web site though. You'd think clicking "all laptop" and filtering by OS would show all models running Ubuntu, but no. I don't even remember how I was able to find it in the first place, but anyone interested can search their web store for cn55818. It even has a decent price for a laptop with a GTX1060 and 8th generation i7. Also to see videos on Dell's web site you need Flash Player. What year is this?Also, LinkedIn is shit. Seriously, why the fuck would you post anything there that is not job related? There is a curse to being knowledgeable about things.
Also, fuck Microsoft.
To manage some of my hardware at work I have to keep a Windows XP machine running with Java 6. Java7 and Java 8 break all the connections, buttons and ability to do anything, along with the dozen or so security warnings and demands for updates.