Unless/until there are more than one or two PCI modems that are not winmodems, all linux users should be a bit worried. I know I am. My motherboard on the main machine at home has only two ISA slots, one of which is shared. And the box only has one ISA card: a modem.
I'm all for the PCI bus. One of the selling features of this mo-board was the small number of ISA slots. PCI is much better in most ways. In theory, firewire, USB, etc. is also much better. But I'm impatient for the kernel development folks to get it to work (and I don't hold it against them. It's their time, not mine.) I also don't trust the modem manufacturers to ship anymore 'real' modems in this new paradigm.
I did see one post on the modem subject (perhaps there were more, but below threshhold 1). It claimed that serial modems are going to go bye-bye. Let me guess: the same people that think that are the same people who giggle with glee over how cool ethernet in the dorm is. Guess what: some of us live in the real world, and don't have access to xDSL or cable modems. For many, serial modems are the only solution for a long time.
So while I will continue buying motherboards with as few ISA slots as possible, that means they will have at least one.
Angie and I started talking on the Trek forum on Delphi. I subscribed to them because they were the only people around at the time who offered no charge internet e mail. I think C$ charged 20 cents a piece or so.
Anyway, we met FTF, dated for a year, broke up for a while, dated for a while, broke up for a year, got back together, and got married on September 25, 1999. Six weeks.
Neither of us would do it again, but... We did get to talk A LOT before spent a great deal of time in each other's physical presence. That helped. It also helped both of us to be online, as we are both a bit shy in public.
I could go on for hours, but basically, it worked, was no harder (or easier) than meeting someone in real life, and it isn't something we'd recommend.
Unfortunately, I have not yet met any of these geek docs. I'm sure they exist. If we could plan for the inevitable drop in reimbursement rates following the 'patients' bill of rights', I'd like to hire one.
But to don a different managerial hat for a moment... Young docs are also slow. You don't need to send out 57 different tests to diagnose a URI. You don't need to spend 25 minutes talking with a patient who has the flu. The idea is to get those patients in, and get 'em out quick, so that you can spend the time on the strange and unusual problems.
Last point on docs: of the seven docs (and one PA) in the practice, the most capable of using our CBPR system is also the oldest doc in the practice, at 56 yo. He also sees the highest number of patients with the fewest problems 'revisited' due to an incorrect or incomplete earlier dx. If I had another six like him...
Hospital IT admins... Sounds like the ones around here must have gone to the same school as your guy. One hospital here spent somewhere in the mid to upper six figures to get a new system (from HBO??) Eight months later, they have *almost* gotten a return to functionality of the old system. Let's not even talk about the loss of legacy data.
BTW, I'd bet you can code better than I can. I'm in business by training (BS Economics, MBA) but got shuffled into IT because someone found out I knew what I was doing. (Did some C coding back when I was in chemistry undergrad. Learned what I needed by flipping through the ANSI C book.)
Being chief tech person at a medical group practice and having grown up with and around doctors, I can assure you that things are both much better and much worse than you say.
The worse:
Doctors, as a group, of any age, know jack about anything other than medicine (I'd even question that for many of them.) They certainly don't know computers, and they demonstrate their leech-using ancestry every time they are expected to use something more complex than a microscope. Your password point is dead on. I've got some 30-ish high school grad staffers who can remember mixed case, alphanumeric passwords. Compare that to the 28 yo doc who has trouble remembering a six digit number for a password.
Security is a joke. We are enduring two companies (one for med records, the other for billing) who don't know much of anything either. The first wholeheartedly endorses the M$ "security through obfuscation" scheme. As well as anything M$ related. I think the DB frontend is written in (very buggy) M$VB. Yes, before I started working there, EVERY user used the same username/password. Except for the admin, whose password was 'sa'. They use PC Anywhere for remote admin (cringe. I couldn't convince the PTB here to disable that one). I raise these questions at group meetings, and am shouted down by the idiots who want to hurry up with the meeting so that they can play golf. The docs who want to play are the supposed techie types. 10% of the attendees are true techie types, and we compared ulcers at last year's meeting. We attempted to trade stories about how to get the techno-neanderthals to work a very simple system.
We've been attempting to implement a CBPR to improve our quality of services. Hopefully, we can pinpoint where diagnostic errors and excesses are being made, and take steps to eliminate them. Computers should also be helpful in assuring compliance with formularies from various managed care organizations. Works great with one practitioner, a few insurance companies, hospital reimbursement rates, and specialty practices. Now, look at what happens when you have 10 practitioners of three primary care specialties dealing with PCP reimbursement from 20 different companies. No products out there scale.
So, rest assured:
The current state of computer medical records sucks. It's not going to get better any time soon. There is a total lack of standardization or quality from any of the leading vendors. Therefore, it's of little use. Therefore, your doc won't put your weekly penicillin shot for various 'social diseases' here on slashdot.
This should be better, but I have to go help one of our docs find the 'any' key.
It's like complaining that Ford made a bad decision to produce a 4 passenger car, because you and your 6 buddies can't fit into it. There's a huge market that's filled by all sorts of different vehicles. When's the last time you've heard someone complain about a company that made semi-trucks, because semi-trucks aren't a family vehicle?
What many of the thin client vendors (and many in the Open Source community) miss out on is that not every business is using computers to run MS Word, Excel, and IE. We're running a scheduling a business package on an Alpha Microsystems box (?) and using dumb terminals. Sadly, I can't just use VT100 emulation, as the emulation mode is called AM-65. Looked high and low a few months back, and the only terminal emulator I found is made by the SOB's who make the system. Yes, we are looking to replace it, but the funds to transfer the information from the old system to the new just aren't there.
Then there is the vendor of our computer based medical records system. Unhelpful. Totally MS based. No chance of Open Source (we are a "development partner" and we can't even get the source. Not that there are any programmers here, but it's the thought that counts. What we do is develop templates that are then passed around to the other users without credit being given). No chance of a Linux, X (in general), Wince, Palm, or MacOS port.
So what does that have to do with these new terminals, or any thin terminal? Quite frankly, I'd love to use them here at the office. Doctors are not the most technically savvy folks. Sure, they can use the latest laser to burn away part of your colon, but I have yet to meet one who could program their VCR (lest the MD's flame me, I've been around docs since I was born. Unless you're about 60 years old or so, I've been around more docs than you) Anyway, thin clients would be a lot easier to manage, and would give me more time to start my business from my cubicle. But the numbers don't make a damned bit of sense. For just a tiny bit more than $10/mo, I could lease a MUCH better machine (even if it's saddled with NT, which, once running, is much better than 95/98). Of course, I'll be leasing for only three years, as a five year lease for computer equipment is foolish. We've got some stuff due to be finished with the lease in about six months, and the leasing companies are hard pressed to give us a buyout, as there isn't much of a market value for 486/DX4's and Pentium 66's.
So while thin clients are nice, the lack of supported applications is sad, the price is absurd, and it just doesn't work. Thin clients work quite well with CLI's, but until someone has a sanely priced graphical client, what's the point? Wyse and Sun have missed the boat. If they are going to make this work, they are going to have to work with vendors and developers to come up with more web enabled apps, java apps, and other tools that are not as mundane as word processors.
But it's taken my mother about 6 years to be able to use AOL (with AiM) and Corel WordPerfect (I wouldn't let her buy Word:) So, tonight I get a call. Something screwy with WP. Basically, I think part of it got hosed when she had to use the three finger salute to restart the box.
I spent an hour (fruitlessly) on the phone trying to get things working for her again. She's probably po'ed now because I didn't call her to finish things up:) I was thinking how I wished she would just get RH6.0, put up Gnome and E (or KDE. I just switched from KDE myself). It's not like she plays any games.
Anyway, the funny question she asked: "what the hell do normal people do who don't have a son to call to bail them out?"
So, I'm thinking to myself: she can get WP for free. Somewhere, there's a copy of Gaim or TiK or something. What's left? That's right. AOL. No matter how I try, I can't get her to switch. Sooo... How does AOL 4.0 work with WINE? Guess it's time to find out. I'd like to be able to just dial in and fix her 'puter when it barfs (Oh, wait. Linux. Shouldn't be a problem...)
Actually, the EU doing something about this 'situation' should be a no brainer (provided what happened does violate some law). Why? Two US companies. (Say what you want about foreign subsidies, these are US companies). Slap either or both of them with a fine, and you can say that you are upholding the EU and explicitly thumbing your nose at the Americanization of the world.
So while this likely shouldn't amount to anything, it will probably make for some good press for some European politicians.
Asking your doctor isn't a bad idea, but there are a few caveats: first, he may not have the foggiest idea. Many practices, the doctor just fills out the superbill, and it is the other staff people who know who is easy to deal with, etc. Ask the doc, but make sure you double check with the receptionists.
Also, some states require a doctor to mention more than one company (much like if you ask your local bell company what long distance carriers are available). So, legally, he might not be able to come right out and say: "Pick XYZ PPO. They're great."
Good luck getting decent rates. With the consolidation of insurance carriers, rates are getting worse (and reimbursement is going down).
From a purely cost-benefit POV, check out the HMOs. As long as you have a good relationship with your primary care physician, you'll not have much trouble getting the *needed* specialty care. At the office I manage, we have three full-time people whose jobs are to make sure referrals get through and our patients don't pay beyond their co-pay.
If you have a chronic illness that requires specialty care, make sure your PCP and specialist are in the same HMO. Also check out eye care benefits. Most of the benefits are garbage, requiring you to go to an optometrist for primary eye care rather than an opthamologist. YMMV, but with a family history of diabetic blindness and glaucoma, I'm going to an opthamologist.
No kidding. I (and one other person in the office) didn't know squat about administering a network before we had to deal with NT. Luckily, the pointy clicky thing got us away from our vendor (a horror story to long to go into here) and into controlling ourselves. And the constant rebooting (I just changed the damned IP address!) got me to look at Linux.
Actually, $12,000 is a sh!tpile of money at the company I work for. One of the beauties of Linux is that small companies have a way of getting Unix into the company without bending over for SCO, et al. Our proxy server was built with some hardware leftover from various upgrades, and a Slack CD.
I see two possibilities for small businesses needing a network OS (sorry, not familiar with NetWare, so they won't appear here):
First, NT, pointy-clicky. Can be kinda cheap, and it's hard to REALLY screw things up. Learn how to restart your server every night, and the BSOD's diminish.
Second, Linux. Save money on the OS, put money into the apps (Oracle?) It's harder to use at first than NT, but I've got tons of free support, whether it be on/., the man pages, the HOW-TO's, etc.
Sorry. Not everyone works for a Fortune 500 company. Some of us are in those companies that really provide new jobs for the economy.
SCO will help customers decide whether Linux is appropriate and which version is best for their circumstances
How often will a linux distro be "appropriate" and how often will SCO be "appropriate". And at $12,000 to answer this question, why the heck not save the money and put in SCO to begin with? Or, better yet, install your favorite distro on some of your favorite machines in a Beowulf cluster
Luckily, while the congress cannot stop the president, the people can. That's the purpose of the 2nd amendment; to guarantee that the people always have the power of self determination.
Should the big jerk declare martial law, and should the brass follow his orders, and should the foot soldiers follow their orders...
There are going to be many people in the states dusting off grandpa's old shotgun.
Unless, as a nation, we are so impotent that we won't. In which case, we deserve martial law.
Similarly, when commercial encryption products are outlawed, criminals will simply hire some hacker (I believe that's correct, as they'd actually be coding, vs. a cracker, who would.... Well... Crack.)
The future - Let the non-coders have a voice too.
on
ESR Wants to Retire
·
· Score: 2
IMHO, I think that ESR's 'replacement' should not be a coder. If the goal is, in fact, to push OSS and Linux into the mainstream, a 'business' person is needed. Perhaps someone like Steve Jobs in the early days.
The hackers have been reached. They've been brought on board. It's time to stop preaching to the choir, it's time to preach to the unwashed masses:) But to do that, it's going to take a little more respect than a bunch of unwashed, GenX/GenY hackers. To convert, we need someone in a nice suit, who can speak and write well, and probably someone with at least a few gray hairs.
Slashdot Mirror
Unless/until there are more than one or two PCI modems that are not winmodems, all linux users should be a bit worried. I know I am. My motherboard on the main machine at home has only two ISA slots, one of which is shared. And the box only has one ISA card: a modem.
I'm all for the PCI bus. One of the selling features of this mo-board was the small number of ISA slots. PCI is much better in most ways. In theory, firewire, USB, etc. is also much better. But I'm impatient for the kernel development folks to get it to work (and I don't hold it against them. It's their time, not mine.) I also don't trust the modem manufacturers to ship anymore 'real' modems in this new paradigm.
I did see one post on the modem subject (perhaps there were more, but below threshhold 1). It claimed that serial modems are going to go bye-bye. Let me guess: the same people that think that are the same people who giggle with glee over how cool ethernet in the dorm is. Guess what: some of us live in the real world, and don't have access to xDSL or cable modems. For many, serial modems are the only solution for a long time.
So while I will continue buying motherboards with as few ISA slots as possible, that means they will have at least one.
For a real modem.
Angie and I started talking on the Trek forum on
Delphi. I subscribed to them because they were the
only people around at the time who offered no charge internet e mail. I think C$ charged 20 cents a piece or so.
Anyway, we met FTF, dated for a year, broke up for a while, dated for a while, broke up for a year, got back together, and got married on September 25, 1999. Six weeks.
Neither of us would do it again, but... We did get to talk A LOT before spent a great deal of time in each other's physical presence. That helped. It also helped both of us to be online, as we are both a bit shy in public.
I could go on for hours, but basically, it worked, was no harder (or easier) than meeting someone in real life, and it isn't something we'd recommend.
-George
Unfortunately, I have not yet met any of these geek docs. I'm sure they exist. If we could plan for the inevitable drop in reimbursement rates following the 'patients' bill of rights', I'd like to hire one.
But to don a different managerial hat for a moment... Young docs are also slow. You don't need to send out 57 different tests to diagnose a URI. You don't need to spend 25 minutes talking with a patient who has the flu. The idea is to get those patients in, and get 'em out quick, so that you can spend the time on the strange and unusual problems.
Last point on docs: of the seven docs (and one PA) in the practice, the most capable of using our CBPR system is also the oldest doc in the practice, at 56 yo. He also sees the highest number of patients with the fewest problems 'revisited' due to an incorrect or incomplete earlier dx. If I had another six like him...
Hospital IT admins... Sounds like the ones around here must have gone to the same school as your guy. One hospital here spent somewhere in the mid to upper six figures to get a new system (from HBO??) Eight months later, they have *almost* gotten a return to functionality of the old system. Let's not even talk about the loss of legacy data.
BTW, I'd bet you can code better than I can. I'm in business by training (BS Economics, MBA) but got shuffled into IT because someone found out I knew what I was doing. (Did some C coding back when I was in chemistry undergrad. Learned what I needed by flipping through the ANSI C book.)
Being chief tech person at a medical group practice and having grown up with and around doctors, I can assure you that things are both much better and much worse than you say.
The worse:
Doctors, as a group, of any age, know jack about anything other than medicine (I'd even question that for many of them.) They certainly don't know computers, and they demonstrate their leech-using ancestry every time they are expected to use something more complex than a microscope. Your password point is dead on. I've got some 30-ish high school grad staffers who can remember mixed case, alphanumeric passwords. Compare that to the 28 yo doc who has trouble remembering a six digit number for a password.
Security is a joke. We are enduring two companies (one for med records, the other for billing) who don't know much of anything either. The first wholeheartedly endorses the M$ "security through obfuscation" scheme. As well as anything M$ related. I think the DB frontend is written in (very buggy) M$VB. Yes, before I started working there, EVERY user used the same username/password. Except for the admin, whose password was 'sa'. They use PC Anywhere for remote admin (cringe. I couldn't convince the PTB here to disable that one). I raise these questions at group meetings, and am shouted down by the idiots who want to hurry up with the meeting so that they can play golf. The docs who want to play are the supposed techie types. 10% of the attendees are true techie types, and we compared ulcers at last year's meeting. We attempted to trade stories about how to get the techno-neanderthals to work a very simple system.
We've been attempting to implement a CBPR to improve our quality of services. Hopefully, we can pinpoint where diagnostic errors and excesses are being made, and take steps to eliminate them. Computers should also be helpful in assuring compliance with formularies from various managed care organizations. Works great with one practitioner, a few insurance companies, hospital reimbursement rates, and specialty practices. Now, look at what happens when you have 10 practitioners of three primary care specialties dealing with PCP reimbursement from 20 different companies. No products out there scale.
So, rest assured:
The current state of computer medical records sucks. It's not going to get better any time soon. There is a total lack of standardization or quality from any of the leading vendors. Therefore, it's of little use. Therefore, your doc won't put your weekly penicillin shot for various 'social diseases' here on slashdot.
This should be better, but I have to go help one of our docs find the 'any' key.
-George
ghowell@@familyhealthcarepa.cnospamom
What many of the thin client vendors (and many in the Open Source community) miss out on is that not every business is using computers to run MS Word, Excel, and IE. We're running a scheduling a business package on an Alpha Microsystems box (?) and using dumb terminals. Sadly, I can't just use VT100 emulation, as the emulation mode is called AM-65. Looked high and low a few months back, and the only terminal emulator I found is made by the SOB's who make the system. Yes, we are looking to replace it, but the funds to transfer the information from the old system to the new just aren't there.
Then there is the vendor of our computer based medical records system. Unhelpful. Totally MS based. No chance of Open Source (we are a "development partner" and we can't even get the source. Not that there are any programmers here, but it's the thought that counts. What we do is develop templates that are then passed around to the other users without credit being given). No chance of a Linux, X (in general), Wince, Palm, or MacOS port.
So what does that have to do with these new terminals, or any thin terminal? Quite frankly, I'd love to use them here at the office. Doctors are not the most technically savvy folks. Sure, they can use the latest laser to burn away part of your colon, but I have yet to meet one who could program their VCR (lest the MD's flame me, I've been around docs since I was born. Unless you're about 60 years old or so, I've been around more docs than you) Anyway, thin clients would be a lot easier to manage, and would give me more time to start my business from my cubicle. But the numbers don't make a damned bit of sense. For just a tiny bit more than $10/mo, I could lease a MUCH better machine (even if it's saddled with NT, which, once running, is much better than 95/98). Of course, I'll be leasing for only three years, as a five year lease for computer equipment is foolish. We've got some stuff due to be finished with the lease in about six months, and the leasing companies are hard pressed to give us a buyout, as there isn't much of a market value for 486/DX4's and Pentium 66's.
So while thin clients are nice, the lack of supported applications is sad, the price is absurd, and it just doesn't work. Thin clients work quite well with CLI's, but until someone has a sanely priced graphical client, what's the point? Wyse and Sun have missed the boat. If they are going to make this work, they are going to have to work with vendors and developers to come up with more web enabled apps, java apps, and other tools that are not as mundane as word processors.
But it's taken my mother about 6 years to be able to use AOL (with AiM) and Corel WordPerfect (I wouldn't let her buy Word:) So, tonight I get a call. Something screwy with WP. Basically, I think part of it got hosed when she had to use the three finger salute to restart the box.
I spent an hour (fruitlessly) on the phone trying to get things working for her again. She's probably po'ed now because I didn't call her to finish things up:) I was thinking how I wished she would just get RH6.0, put up Gnome and E (or KDE. I just switched from KDE myself). It's not like she plays any games.
Anyway, the funny question she asked: "what the hell do normal people do who don't have a son to call to bail them out?"
So, I'm thinking to myself: she can get WP for free. Somewhere, there's a copy of Gaim or TiK or something. What's left? That's right. AOL. No matter how I try, I can't get her to switch. Sooo... How does AOL 4.0 work with WINE? Guess it's time to find out. I'd like to be able to just dial in and fix her 'puter when it barfs (Oh, wait. Linux. Shouldn't be a problem...)
-George
Actually, the EU doing something about this 'situation' should be a no brainer (provided what happened does violate some law). Why? Two US companies. (Say what you want about foreign subsidies, these are US companies). Slap either or both of them with a fine, and you can say that you are upholding the EU and explicitly thumbing your nose at the Americanization of the world.
So while this likely shouldn't amount to anything, it will probably make for some good press for some European politicians.
-George
Asking your doctor isn't a bad idea, but there are a few caveats: first, he may not have the foggiest idea. Many practices, the doctor just fills out the superbill, and it is the other staff people who know who is easy to deal with, etc. Ask the doc, but make sure you double check with the receptionists.
Also, some states require a doctor to mention more than one company (much like if you ask your local bell company what long distance carriers are available). So, legally, he might not be able to come right out and say: "Pick XYZ PPO. They're great."
Good luck getting decent rates. With the consolidation of insurance carriers, rates are getting worse (and reimbursement is going down).
From a purely cost-benefit POV, check out the HMOs. As long as you have a good relationship with your primary care physician, you'll not have much trouble getting the *needed* specialty care. At the office I manage, we have three full-time people whose jobs are to make sure referrals get through and our patients don't pay beyond their co-pay.
If you have a chronic illness that requires specialty care, make sure your PCP and specialist are in the same HMO. Also check out eye care benefits. Most of the benefits are garbage, requiring you to go to an optometrist for primary eye care rather than an opthamologist. YMMV, but with a family history of diabetic blindness and glaucoma, I'm going to an opthamologist.
Good luck.
-George
(that's olg.com)
No kidding. I (and one other person in the office) didn't know squat about administering a network before we had to deal with NT. Luckily, the pointy clicky thing got us away from our vendor (a horror story to long to go into here) and into controlling ourselves. And the constant rebooting (I just changed the damned IP address!) got me to look at Linux.
Actually, $12,000 is a sh!tpile of money at the company I work for. One of the beauties of Linux is that small companies have a way of getting Unix into the company without bending over for SCO, et al. Our proxy server was built with some hardware leftover from various upgrades, and a Slack CD.
/., the man pages, the HOW-TO's, etc.
I see two possibilities for small businesses needing a network OS (sorry, not familiar with NetWare, so they won't appear here):
First, NT, pointy-clicky. Can be kinda cheap, and it's hard to REALLY screw things up. Learn how to restart your server every night, and the BSOD's diminish.
Second, Linux. Save money on the OS, put money into the apps (Oracle?) It's harder to use at first than NT, but I've got tons of free support, whether it be on
Sorry. Not everyone works for a Fortune 500 company. Some of us are in those companies that really provide new jobs for the economy.
-George
How often will a linux distro be "appropriate" and how often will SCO be "appropriate". And at $12,000 to answer this question, why the heck not save the money and put in SCO to begin with? Or, better yet, install your favorite distro on some of your favorite machines in a Beowulf cluster
-George
Luckily, while the congress cannot stop the president, the people can. That's the purpose of the 2nd amendment; to guarantee that the people always have the power of self determination.
Should the big jerk declare martial law, and
should the brass follow his orders, and
should the foot soldiers follow their orders...
There are going to be many people in the states dusting off grandpa's old shotgun.
Unless, as a nation, we are so impotent that we won't. In which case, we deserve martial law.
-George
Only outlaws will have guns.
Similarly, when commercial encryption products are outlawed, criminals will simply hire some hacker (I believe that's correct, as they'd actually be coding, vs. a cracker, who would.... Well... Crack.)
IMHO, I think that ESR's 'replacement' should not be a coder. If the goal is, in fact, to push OSS and Linux into the mainstream, a 'business' person is needed. Perhaps someone like Steve Jobs in the early days.
The hackers have been reached. They've been brought on board. It's time to stop preaching to the choir, it's time to preach to the unwashed masses:) But to do that, it's going to take a little more respect than a bunch of unwashed, GenX/GenY hackers. To convert, we need someone in a nice suit, who can speak and write well, and probably someone with at least a few gray hairs.
Lee Iacocca maybe?
-George