Please stop modding this down. Re-read it, note that nothing in it is indefensible, therefore it is not a troll. My karma has suffered enough over this.
sorry. So, yes, I actually agree with you. Responses to this post of mine seemed adamant that Medical Billing is indeed different from normal billing, due to regulations and insurance and so forth.
I would argue, as I believe so might you, that these types of issues due effect more than the medical industry, and that any sufficiently flexible financial system should be designed in such a way that it can be adapted to Medical Billing.
What I suspect is that the construction of such a system, while technically feasible, may require so much legal advice to get all of the rules correct that a free implementation is not realistic.
Not to mention, in the litigious health care industry, folks might shy away from a system whose README features "Disclaimer: IANAL"...
I find this puzzling, and yet fascinating. As an American, I am unhappy to say that I am relatively ignorant of most matters European.
:(
However, here is something I can relate to. The DMCA has been a bane to Real Americans since the day it was made law on June 16th, 1998. Since its passage, we have seen the near death of the record industry due to general consumer discontent over the state of copyright law. In addition, as Alan Cox points out in the article above, the DMCA has been incredibly harmful to the Open Source and Free Software movements. Since it became law, people are leaving Linux in droves, clinging harder than ever to the safety of Windows.
Sad? You bet. But as a former Linux customer, I have to agree that I'd rather use Windows than risk getting arrested for using semi-legal software just to watch DVDs.
If such a law passes in Europe, Linux will only continue down the road to failure. Until now, foreigners have been the last bastion of Free Software idealism. As silly and unrealistic as it might be in the long run, I'd kind of hate to see them go the way of BSD.
This sounds like an ideal place to apply some classic code reuse software engineering principles.
What you are looking for may be a medical billing program. But note that a medical billing program "is a" billing program. Are there any billing programs out there for any of your target platforms?
If you have a handful of developers, or even one, throw them at one of the general billing programs that are already out there. This is what open source is all about.
You might also want to look into general DBMS's, as this seems like the kind of important data you'd want to take care of. It wouldn't take too much effort to throw a custom GUI and printing interface over a MySQL or PostgreSQL backend.
NASA has got to get funded for this, and the U.S. shouldn't have to pick up the entire tab.
Last I checked that stood for "National American Space Association," so this would be quite a surprise!
No offense, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for other countries to help out. Since America's birth in 1776, we have gotten pretty used to the opposite situation (i.e., helping other people out). For example, French Revolution, French & Indian War, Spanish Philipines War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War. But no one helped us out during the Civil War. Basically, it's the price we pay for leading the civilized world.
I think we all must ask ourselves what are priorities are. Are we going to forego all of the useful functions of Society, including welfare, affirmative action, and the right for a Woman to Choose, just so we can look at these pretty pictures? Is taxing the hell out of science fiction fans (previous slashdot story, can't seem to find it, sorry) worth satisfying our silly human curiosity?
Well, curiosity it is that has driven all of the advances of Mankind, from the earliest primitive tools to the Crucifiction of Jesus to the Constitution of the United States. Human ingenuity has always triumphed. And this case is no different.
You know what choice to make...we all do. Generations from now, our descendents will remember Earth, the USA, and NASA, where it all started. They will be thankful. And that is the greatest reward I could ever wish for.
My first reaction to this was, "great!" But then I started thinking, maybe this won't work so well. After all, open source software has been available for years on Linux ISOs...a lot of distros will install on a normal FAT32 filesystem.
So why aren't people taking the plunge?
Whatever the reason, it isn't the lack of an easy to install CD. If you think about it objectively, well, what are the differences between most, say, Windows software (commercial or shareware), and most open source software? Well, cost is right at the top, no question. And flexibility, for the small number of people who care. And next? Well, hate to say it, but polish, ease of use, help systems: anything that could make OSS usable by any but the most freakish, repressed, zealous, skinny Linux geek. And sticking it on a CD will never change that, ever, despite what the "community" would have you believe.
I haven't even seen any good fluid dynamics in games (rivers and waterfalls are always flat and premodeled), or even really convincing rigid body dynamics for that matter.
This is the beauty of modelling at the atomic level. Once you can accurately model the components of an atom, you just assemble them in different amounts, and the system takes care of itself from there: phase changes and macroscopic behaviors fall out of it.
It's just like agent-based simulations. Instead of modelling a whole huge-ass thing, you just model the smallest components, and let the computer assemble the macro-simulation.
IIRC, this is how technologies such as flight sims, voting systems, lottery generators, and letter-sorting machines function. It is also the philosophy on which Linux was based (if you look at it right)! Remember: "if you build it, they will come."
IANALLNLS (I am not an LLNL Scientist), but I see some cool applications of this technology on the horizon.
First, whenever someone says "simulation," I immediately think "games." Call it instinct or hypnosis (or maybe both!), but it's just a gut reaction for me. I mean, billions of atoms. We're talking physics so realistic that the holodeck might not be so far off! Of course, it may be some time until graphics catch up with this (LOL), but I think we're all in for a treat.
Next of all is Science. Imagine the cost savings when full physics experiments can be carried out with computers! Plus you avoid all of the danger normally associated with Science (i.e., the Frankenstein complex). The implications for astronomy, anatomy, chemistry, geneology, engineering, geography, and anthropology boggle the mind.
Finally, I think we will finally start to get some answers. One of the biggest barriers to creating the Grand Unifying Theory of Everything (commonly believed to be a combo of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics...not an easy feat) has been the limitations of human reason. On the other hand, computers (which are very good at logical reasoning) lacked the firepower to handle these huge models. If this signifies the breaking down of these barriers (and I think it does), then we might finally get things figured out.
Haha. When I worked at a used computer store that also did service, we had a guy come in who had managed to spill whisky all over the inside of his case. I guess he was having a party and was showing off his RAM or something (some party, right?).
OTOH, I like to enjoy a martini while geeking with hardware. I think it makes me more careful when I know I am likely to screw up. Plus there's the thrill of living on the edge.
This might be more appropriate in the "Bitch to Slashdot" section.
So this answer will probably not be welcome...
I know it is cool to talk about how stupid "management" is. Remember, "management" is not an entity. It is a group of people at your specific company. Each company has a different group of people making these decisions, so any kind of general statements about "it" are just that: blanket generalizations that are of little use to any individual.
What else you should know about these groups of people at succesful companies is, their entire job is to make decisions. The vast majority of these decisions are of the form "we have $X and we need $Y, how do we [use the extra $(X-Y)|obtain the additional $(Y-X)] in the best way?"
They know how important employees are, and they are aware of the current market realities. If they cut pay 50%, they probably have a good idea of how many people will leave, how productivity will drop, and how much they stand to make in the end. All of these are dictated by the market, and no company (in this industry) is large enough to affect the market.
These things happen...markets fluctuate, and businesses adjust in response. It has nothing to do with good vs. evil or fair vs. unfair. Rather it's the difference between businesses that will succeed and those that will fail.
The last thing I want to read about is debate over when it's time to "release the woody." That is just nasty, and there is no place for such filth on the Internet.
Incidentally, I got a nice chuckle out of jbennetto making a snide comment about the "Romance" nature of the Best Novel winner, while ignoring the fact that Crouching Tiger is clearly a love story.
I think there is a pretty glaring difference between writing about love, which is a human emotion (rather, the human emotion), and writing in the "Romance" genre, which is, well, a genre. The two are not necessarily coincident, and I would argue that they are almost completely disjoint.:)
I think we are at the beginning of a great increase in the popularity of science fiction.
Never before has technology (the lingua franca of sci-fi) played such a role as it currently does, IMO. Meanwhile, the Sci-Fi Channel (could Jules Verne even have imagined such a thing in his wildest fantasies?) is among the fastest-growing cable channels on television, according to ratings.
I'm thinking, maybe this stuff isn't just for antisocial nerds any more. Perhaps science fiction finally matters.
It won't be long now before the Nebula awards are as popular, as talked about, as the Emmies or the Clios!
This is nothing special. I always just pick up a 40 on the way to the theater. Among the many benefits of this technique is that if you see the same movie twice (like, once with your family and once with your friends) you won't spoil the ending for yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
:(
* #1 Candidate for overused annoying chic media term.
Did I miss something? I feel like I'm in Back to the Future II.
:)
sorry. So, yes, I actually agree with you. Responses to this post of mine seemed adamant that Medical Billing is indeed different from normal billing, due to regulations and insurance and so forth.
I would argue, as I believe so might you, that these types of issues due effect more than the medical industry, and that any sufficiently flexible financial system should be designed in such a way that it can be adapted to Medical Billing.
What I suspect is that the construction of such a system, while technically feasible, may require so much legal advice to get all of the rules correct that a free implementation is not realistic.
Not to mention, in the litigious health care industry, folks might shy away from a system whose README features "Disclaimer: IANAL"...
:(
However, here is something I can relate to. The DMCA has been a bane to Real Americans since the day it was made law on June 16th, 1998. Since its passage, we have seen the near death of the record industry due to general consumer discontent over the state of copyright law. In addition, as Alan Cox points out in the article above, the DMCA has been incredibly harmful to the Open Source and Free Software movements. Since it became law, people are leaving Linux in droves, clinging harder than ever to the safety of Windows.
Sad? You bet. But as a former Linux customer, I have to agree that I'd rather use Windows than risk getting arrested for using semi-legal software just to watch DVDs.
If such a law passes in Europe, Linux will only continue down the road to failure. Until now, foreigners have been the last bastion of Free Software idealism. As silly and unrealistic as it might be in the long run, I'd kind of hate to see them go the way of BSD.
Generic financial systems do not recognize concepts, such as "spleen", which are essential to the field of Medical Billing.
You don't say.
What you are looking for may be a medical billing program. But note that a medical billing program "is a" billing program. Are there any billing programs out there for any of your target platforms?
If you have a handful of developers, or even one, throw them at one of the general billing programs that are already out there. This is what open source is all about.
You might also want to look into general DBMS's, as this seems like the kind of important data you'd want to take care of. It wouldn't take too much effort to throw a custom GUI and printing interface over a MySQL or PostgreSQL backend.
Last I checked that stood for "National American Space Association," so this would be quite a surprise!
No offense, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for other countries to help out. Since America's birth in 1776, we have gotten pretty used to the opposite situation (i.e., helping other people out). For example, French Revolution, French & Indian War, Spanish Philipines War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War. But no one helped us out during the Civil War. Basically, it's the price we pay for leading the civilized world.
:(
Sadly, despite the continuing stream of succesful discoveries and experiments (not to mention missions in space!), NASA continues to suffer from a lack of funding. Even when NASA saves our asses once again, they must struggle to get the money they deserve.
I think we all must ask ourselves what are priorities are. Are we going to forego all of the useful functions of Society, including welfare, affirmative action, and the right for a Woman to Choose, just so we can look at these pretty pictures? Is taxing the hell out of science fiction fans (previous slashdot story, can't seem to find it, sorry) worth satisfying our silly human curiosity?
Well, curiosity it is that has driven all of the advances of Mankind, from the earliest primitive tools to the Crucifiction of Jesus to the Constitution of the United States. Human ingenuity has always triumphed. And this case is no different.
You know what choice to make...we all do. Generations from now, our descendents will remember Earth, the USA, and NASA, where it all started. They will be thankful. And that is the greatest reward I could ever wish for.
In my experience, it is almost always worth it to find some cash.
Fortunately for Red Hat, although Jim Henson the person may be gone, Jim Henson the trademark lives on still.
Never understood transformers. Why can't people just choose AC or DC and stick with one instead of all this waffling back and forth.
So why aren't people taking the plunge?
Whatever the reason, it isn't the lack of an easy to install CD. If you think about it objectively, well, what are the differences between most, say, Windows software (commercial or shareware), and most open source software? Well, cost is right at the top, no question. And flexibility, for the small number of people who care. And next? Well, hate to say it, but polish, ease of use, help systems: anything that could make OSS usable by any but the most freakish, repressed, zealous, skinny Linux geek. And sticking it on a CD will never change that, ever, despite what the "community" would have you believe.
This is the beauty of modelling at the atomic level. Once you can accurately model the components of an atom, you just assemble them in different amounts, and the system takes care of itself from there: phase changes and macroscopic behaviors fall out of it.
It's just like agent-based simulations. Instead of modelling a whole huge-ass thing, you just model the smallest components, and let the computer assemble the macro-simulation.
IIRC, this is how technologies such as flight sims, voting systems, lottery generators, and letter-sorting machines function. It is also the philosophy on which Linux was based (if you look at it right)! Remember: "if you build it, they will come."
First, whenever someone says "simulation," I immediately think "games." Call it instinct or hypnosis (or maybe both!), but it's just a gut reaction for me. I mean, billions of atoms. We're talking physics so realistic that the holodeck might not be so far off! Of course, it may be some time until graphics catch up with this (LOL), but I think we're all in for a treat.
Next of all is Science. Imagine the cost savings when full physics experiments can be carried out with computers! Plus you avoid all of the danger normally associated with Science (i.e., the Frankenstein complex). The implications for astronomy, anatomy, chemistry, geneology, engineering, geography, and anthropology boggle the mind.
Finally, I think we will finally start to get some answers. One of the biggest barriers to creating the Grand Unifying Theory of Everything (commonly believed to be a combo of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics...not an easy feat) has been the limitations of human reason. On the other hand, computers (which are very good at logical reasoning) lacked the firepower to handle these huge models. If this signifies the breaking down of these barriers (and I think it does), then we might finally get things figured out.
I bet this gets old within, oh, about 13 days of programming in Ruby.
OTOH, I like to enjoy a martini while geeking with hardware. I think it makes me more careful when I know I am likely to screw up. Plus there's the thrill of living on the edge.
Which category does "subscriptions" fall under?
This might be more appropriate in the "Bitch to Slashdot" section.
So this answer will probably not be welcome...
I know it is cool to talk about how stupid "management" is. Remember, "management" is not an entity. It is a group of people at your specific company. Each company has a different group of people making these decisions, so any kind of general statements about "it" are just that: blanket generalizations that are of little use to any individual.
What else you should know about these groups of people at succesful companies is, their entire job is to make decisions. The vast majority of these decisions are of the form "we have $X and we need $Y, how do we [use the extra $(X-Y)|obtain the additional $(Y-X)] in the best way?"
They know how important employees are, and they are aware of the current market realities. If they cut pay 50%, they probably have a good idea of how many people will leave, how productivity will drop, and how much they stand to make in the end. All of these are dictated by the market, and no company (in this industry) is large enough to affect the market.
These things happen...markets fluctuate, and businesses adjust in response. It has nothing to do with good vs. evil or fair vs. unfair. Rather it's the difference between businesses that will succeed and those that will fail.
The last thing I want to read about is debate over when it's time to "release the woody." That is just nasty, and there is no place for such filth on the Internet.
I think there is a pretty glaring difference between writing about love, which is a human emotion (rather, the human emotion), and writing in the "Romance" genre, which is, well, a genre. The two are not necessarily coincident, and I would argue that they are almost completely disjoint. :)
What will I be amused by?!?
Never before has technology (the lingua franca of sci-fi) played such a role as it currently does, IMO. Meanwhile, the Sci-Fi Channel (could Jules Verne even have imagined such a thing in his wildest fantasies?) is among the fastest-growing cable channels on television, according to ratings.
I'm thinking, maybe this stuff isn't just for antisocial nerds any more. Perhaps science fiction finally matters.
It won't be long now before the Nebula awards are as popular, as talked about, as the Emmies or the Clios!
Any thoughts?
This is nothing special. I always just pick up a 40 on the way to the theater. Among the many benefits of this technique is that if you see the same movie twice (like, once with your family and once with your friends) you won't spoil the ending for yourself.
Why did you post this excellent and informative message anonymously? I love "deferred addressing" and "metacircular allocation"...