Virus Shuts Down Australian Ambulance Dispatch Service 222
angry tapir writes "Computers which co-ordinate ambulances in NSW, Australia, are back online in three of the state's regions after a major virus forced staff to shut them down for more than 24 hours. The virus crept into the Ambulance Service of NSW's dispatch system, prompting staff to co-ordinate paramedics by telephone and handwritten notes. The cause and source of the virus are not yet known."
Re:I know what caused it (Score:4, Informative)
Yea, and at-least 2 of them were shutdown by windows crashes and were dead in the water, need a tow all the way back to port. The smart ship program started with an unix bases system until MS hired a retired admiral to loby for it.
Re:If.... (Score:3, Informative)
Windows is such crapware, as so many of you think, why don't you guys all get together and write an emergency management system that runs on a Linux distro? Now I obviously don't know for sure, but it seems likely the reason they are using Windows is that their application is written that way. Take a way the need to use Windows before bitching and moaning about them using Windows.
Presentation at this week's North Carolina GIS Conference
Open Source Computer-Aided-Dispatch – GIS at
Work in Emergency Response,” Arnie Shore,
Anne Arundel Co, MD
Looks like Arnie will be talking about this:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.opensource/browse_thread/thread/29ba12a929bd7bd3?pli=1
Re:Boredom... (Score:2, Informative)
"I've never had to deal with I.T. in a fire station, but I can guess it's every bit as bad, if not worse."
Definitely true. My department had to lock down their network and severly limit computer access after routine virus scanning picked up a bug on mission-critical systems. That many grown men and women with hours of time and nothing to do will undoubtedly end up at all sorts of crazy websites. Fortunately, the leadership recognized the "periods of insane boredom" that accompany this line of work, and agreed to purchase a second internet connection, connected to a (secured) wireless network for personal use only