There are hundreds of various EMR products, which typically cost $30,000 per physician to buy, and $5,000/year/MD for maintenance costs. After paying all that, the EMR products are incompatible with each other, so that records cannot be sent from MD to MD, except to print out the information and scan the pages into the other MD's system. If the digitized information is lost, then the value of the EMR to track information is also lost.
A better solution would be to encourage ro require the use of a single backend product, which would be open sourced, such as the VA's system. This system should be capable of handling all patient encounters: hospital, clinic, OT, PT, labs, etc. Separate front-ends could be created for different situations. The variety of these various situations (hospital front ends, ENT clinics, family practice clinics, pediatrician's office, and so on would be a great environment for private investment. A generic open source front end could be maintained for minimal cost (such as the current VA front end. This would lower the cost of projects, while increasing diversity in front ends (all the healthcare workers care about) and create an opportunity to share digitized information between providers who have permission to share this information from the patient.
In the United States there are constant problems with coverage, preferred medications, and so on. Having prescriptions delievered without the patient's or doctor's information would be incredibly unworkable.
I agree that ubuntu is much easier to use than debian potato, or woody (released in 2002). However, they certainly predate any ubuntu release. I use ubuntu and kubuntu on almost all of my machines, but I would be cautious in attributing all the development in linux to ubuntu. They are simply pulling together other people's work....although that is what disto makers do, and maybe the word "simply" is inappropriate there. =)
Adept is sponsored by Canonical. Synaptic predates ubuntu and in fact was started by Conectiva. Aptitude apparently dates all the way back to 1999. (all info from wikipedia)
In our office, we actually use a hodgepodge of computers that we reclaimed more or less from the local hospital about to discard them, or from garage sales. While many slashdotters are perfectly capable of installing linux on an old rig and getting a serviceable outcome, the target wal-mart shopper would be much more comfortable with a turn-key solution.
I like how the availability of open source linux means that the hardware providers are fairly free to create their own hardware and then snap on a nearly ready-made OS. All they need is a few programmers to flesh out a custom solution, without worrying to a large degree about payments to MS that are way out of proportion (the windows version costing nearly $300 means that a third of the cost of the windows version is simply for a barebones OS)
Well, if you're looking for just "more responsive than Vista", I could include my 32MB 486SX machine running Windows for Workgroups. Or my old 640kb 286 machine running DOS and wordperfect. Bloat encroachment has really done a number on responsiveness of our computers. My new core 2 duo laptop hardly feels more responsive than my much older 486SC did. It seems the only thing that really benefits from the better hardware is tasks like seti or folding at home.
We have an Asus barebones with an 800mhz via c3 processor. It's running the current version of kubuntu without any problems. Opening OOo or firefox has a noticeable lag, but they are very usable once opened. I have a great core 2 duo laptop and desktop at home, but they are actually not necessary for regular 'productivity tasks'. Ask anyone using linux on older hardware, or a mac user still on a g4 for example.
ATX cases can often be bought cheap. Many brand-name computers ship with mATX motherboards. Honestly, I don't see the downside here, except for space. The larger computer has expandability and its rock-bottom cheap. I think Everex quite possibly put it in such a large case for cost reasons over some psychology issue. The people using psychologists to design their hardware is Apple.
You are absolutely right. OOo cannot win direct comparisons on a feature-by-feature basis, but then it is free compared to the tune of $100-400 for various versions of MS Office. Probably the main feature MS Office has over OOo is the collaborative features that allow people who are not even in the same physical space to collaborate and share documents.
However, easily 95% of people are using word processors and spreadsheets for fairly basic tasks. My office uses OOo exclusively, but we only need it for basic tasks, like writing letters and maintaining lists on spreadsheets. A local newspaper here (a small community weekly) uses it to write up their articles, even though they use a proprietary solution for the final layout, etc.
It all depends on your needs. If you really need the features of MS Office, then buy it. There is no need to moralize about what is the right choice - just consider your needs. I guess I would moralize that if you are using open source, consider donating back to the project in some fashion.
Apparently IBM was left with a few cases of Cell processors...wouldn't it be nice to be the guy who gets to hear "Well, we've got about 20,000 extra cell processors in the warehouse, want to cook up a supercomputer?"
This is much closer to the car park example. In some ways, it is even more ridiculous than the religious example, because there is simply no reason to turn away the Linux users. Of course, one caveat is that they don't want people calling saying "I have debian potato and I can't watch your videos", but I don't think this is the general Linux approach to the problem (calling a newspapers tech support) -- after all, Roblimo appears to have complained to/. rather than calling NYT!
CNN uses windows media on their free video. I had thought this was 'dead to me'. With my recent switch to ubuntu 6.06 and lazy installation of the non-free goodies with automatix, I can now watch those CNN videos of cats in trees and stars goofy clothes, if I care to.
You're absolutely right. More important than the language is an appropriate curriculum. I have never had the opportunity to use it, but the LiveWire curriculum was developed for a preteen/teenage audience for use at summer camps in England. According to the webpage, it was designed as an introduction to programming. This may be directed more at children on the older side of the range the questioner asked. However, it has worked well for them over several years, and the whole curriculum appears freely available.
Actually, thw Unitee Kingdom does not have a set, written constitution like the United States, India, France, and so on. According to the wikipedia, the British Constitution is an "unwritten consitution." That certainly is not to claim that constituional law in the UK is pure chaos. To quote the article:
The lack of a central written constitutional document explaining the fundamental principles of the state and relationship between its institutions and between the people leads some constitutionalists to regard the United Kingdom as having "no (formal) constitution".
In some countries, courts have borrowed precedents from other nations when there was no controlling precendent in their nation. I believe that the Indian Supreme Court referred to some US Supreme Court decisions early on after India's independence. Such extranational precedents surely are meant only for example's sake, rather than being used as a direct controlling law. Common law has been fleshed out pretty well in the last two hundred years, and I doubt such a slight precedent would hold in America.
Isn't the Digital Millenium act and such meant to supersede general common law and common sense? I'm sure that its taken care of somewhere in the DCMA
Someone posts a link to a video of a hot girl and all anyone can mention is DRM?! I might note that Alizee's father is a computer scientist. So all ya nerds out there might have a leg up on her - at least you might chat her Dad up more than the usual hunks on her arm =).
Hopefully someone can pick up the slack and donate to this great project.
You?
Incidentally, I just installed OpenBSD last night for use as a firewall at my office. In appreciation, I donated through PayPal. Other people could, too.
Honestly, I only gave $10 for starters, but if the firewall works well, I will have the clinic send a bit more to the project for the use of their system. Even so, if half the people who read this slashdot posting send $10 through PayPal, they will at least have a start on their fundraising.
Debian-based distributions really are easy to maintain (as long as your stick to apt-get). Plus, the breadth of software kept on the debian repositories is unequalled by other linux distributions. If it is available for linux, its likely to be in the debian repos.
Ubuntu is a fine distro, but the appeal come from the large community around it. Great, but less popular distros like Vector don't have projects like automatix appearing out of their fandom. The enormous community also means that users of all skill levels can get help more quickly. Other distros have less help available, or it may often be tailored to certain (often high) skill levels.
A simple correction - your prostate is between your urethra and your rectum. In fact, the prostate makes most of the liquid in the ejaculate. If your prostate is too large (BPH), then the the urologist will sometimes do a TURP (also in the BPH article), where the urologist basically goes up your urethra and scoops out heaps of the prostate, in order to free up some space for the poor fellow to relieve himself.
If concern for prostate cancer is raised, a biopsy is done with a terribly evil device that goes up the rectum and spears the prostate with six separate little needles. If they left a little capsaicin behind you would be so sore you wouldn't notice...However, the study as reported by the article was simply consumed capsaicin, not topically applied
I've recently given up my club membership, too. Really, over $100 for a year's subscription...when editions are only going to come out yearly! Mandriva did have gobs of packages...almost to the debian level. However, my main interest was all the nice proprietary software (no flames please), since I was a newbie.
I just updated my wife's computer to kubuntu and was pleased to see how easily installing the ATI drivers were with synaptic. The Debian repositories have more software than any other distro that I know of. Other than mandriva, I had always loved straight Debian and mepis. Now I am with happy kubuntu...bye bye Mandriva, it was a nice time...
Slashdot Mirror
Of course they have web browsers. What's wrong with IE6?
Who cares about dual booting when you can run win 7 in virtualbox?
There are hundreds of various EMR products, which typically cost $30,000 per physician to buy, and $5,000/year/MD for maintenance costs. After paying all that, the EMR products are incompatible with each other, so that records cannot be sent from MD to MD, except to print out the information and scan the pages into the other MD's system. If the digitized information is lost, then the value of the EMR to track information is also lost. A better solution would be to encourage ro require the use of a single backend product, which would be open sourced, such as the VA's system. This system should be capable of handling all patient encounters: hospital, clinic, OT, PT, labs, etc. Separate front-ends could be created for different situations. The variety of these various situations (hospital front ends, ENT clinics, family practice clinics, pediatrician's office, and so on would be a great environment for private investment. A generic open source front end could be maintained for minimal cost (such as the current VA front end. This would lower the cost of projects, while increasing diversity in front ends (all the healthcare workers care about) and create an opportunity to share digitized information between providers who have permission to share this information from the patient.
In the United States there are constant problems with coverage, preferred medications, and so on. Having prescriptions delievered without the patient's or doctor's information would be incredibly unworkable.
I'm sorry, but you sound like you are describing sudo. Isn't that what the *buntus are already doing?
I agree that ubuntu is much easier to use than debian potato, or woody (released in 2002). However, they certainly predate any ubuntu release. I use ubuntu and kubuntu on almost all of my machines, but I would be cautious in attributing all the development in linux to ubuntu. They are simply pulling together other people's work....although that is what disto makers do, and maybe the word "simply" is inappropriate there. =)
Adept is sponsored by Canonical. Synaptic predates ubuntu and in fact was started by Conectiva. Aptitude apparently dates all the way back to 1999. (all info from wikipedia)
In our office, we actually use a hodgepodge of computers that we reclaimed more or less from the local hospital about to discard them, or from garage sales. While many slashdotters are perfectly capable of installing linux on an old rig and getting a serviceable outcome, the target wal-mart shopper would be much more comfortable with a turn-key solution.
I like how the availability of open source linux means that the hardware providers are fairly free to create their own hardware and then snap on a nearly ready-made OS. All they need is a few programmers to flesh out a custom solution, without worrying to a large degree about payments to MS that are way out of proportion (the windows version costing nearly $300 means that a third of the cost of the windows version is simply for a barebones OS)
Well, if you're looking for just "more responsive than Vista", I could include my 32MB 486SX machine running Windows for Workgroups. Or my old 640kb 286 machine running DOS and wordperfect. Bloat encroachment has really done a number on responsiveness of our computers. My new core 2 duo laptop hardly feels more responsive than my much older 486SC did. It seems the only thing that really benefits from the better hardware is tasks like seti or folding at home.
We have an Asus barebones with an 800mhz via c3 processor. It's running the current version of kubuntu without any problems. Opening OOo or firefox has a noticeable lag, but they are very usable once opened. I have a great core 2 duo laptop and desktop at home, but they are actually not necessary for regular 'productivity tasks'. Ask anyone using linux on older hardware, or a mac user still on a g4 for example.
ATX cases can often be bought cheap. Many brand-name computers ship with mATX motherboards. Honestly, I don't see the downside here, except for space. The larger computer has expandability and its rock-bottom cheap. I think Everex quite possibly put it in such a large case for cost reasons over some psychology issue. The people using psychologists to design their hardware is Apple.
You are absolutely right. OOo cannot win direct comparisons on a feature-by-feature basis, but then it is free compared to the tune of $100-400 for various versions of MS Office. Probably the main feature MS Office has over OOo is the collaborative features that allow people who are not even in the same physical space to collaborate and share documents. However, easily 95% of people are using word processors and spreadsheets for fairly basic tasks. My office uses OOo exclusively, but we only need it for basic tasks, like writing letters and maintaining lists on spreadsheets. A local newspaper here (a small community weekly) uses it to write up their articles, even though they use a proprietary solution for the final layout, etc. It all depends on your needs. If you really need the features of MS Office, then buy it. There is no need to moralize about what is the right choice - just consider your needs. I guess I would moralize that if you are using open source, consider donating back to the project in some fashion.
marsrover-spirit$ apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
You live in a zoo
You look like a monkey
and you smell like one, too.
If you have kids you may understand...
Why not NCSA Mosaic 1.0. I'll bet that doesn't even support pop-up windows. Barring that, I could just go back to gopher...
Apparently IBM was left with a few cases of Cell processors...wouldn't it be nice to be the guy who gets to hear "Well, we've got about 20,000 extra cell processors in the warehouse, want to cook up a supercomputer?"
This is much closer to the car park example. In some ways, it is even more ridiculous than the religious example, because there is simply no reason to turn away the Linux users. Of course, one caveat is that they don't want people calling saying "I have debian potato and I can't watch your videos", but I don't think this is the general Linux approach to the problem (calling a newspapers tech support) -- after all, Roblimo appears to have complained to /. rather than calling NYT!
CNN uses windows media on their free video. I had thought this was 'dead to me'. With my recent switch to ubuntu 6.06 and lazy installation of the non-free goodies with automatix, I can now watch those CNN videos of cats in trees and stars goofy clothes, if I care to.
http://www.livewires.org.uk/python
Actually, thw Unitee Kingdom does not have a set, written constitution like the United States, India, France, and so on. According to the wikipedia, the British Constitution is an "unwritten consitution." That certainly is not to claim that constituional law in the UK is pure chaos. To quote the article:
In some countries, courts have borrowed precedents from other nations when there was no controlling precendent in their nation. I believe that the Indian Supreme Court referred to some US Supreme Court decisions early on after India's independence. Such extranational precedents surely are meant only for example's sake, rather than being used as a direct controlling law. Common law has been fleshed out pretty well in the last two hundred years, and I doubt such a slight precedent would hold in America.Isn't the Digital Millenium act and such meant to supersede general common law and common sense? I'm sure that its taken care of somewhere in the DCMA
Maybe they found some SCO code in Vista...
Someone posts a link to a video of a hot girl and all anyone can mention is DRM?! I might note that Alizee's father is a computer scientist. So all ya nerds out there might have a leg up on her - at least you might chat her Dad up more than the usual hunks on her arm =).
Incidentally, I just installed OpenBSD last night for use as a firewall at my office. In appreciation, I donated through PayPal. Other people could, too.
Honestly, I only gave $10 for starters, but if the firewall works well, I will have the clinic send a bit more to the project for the use of their system. Even so, if half the people who read this slashdot posting send $10 through PayPal, they will at least have a start on their fundraising.
Debian-based distributions really are easy to maintain (as long as your stick to apt-get). Plus, the breadth of software kept on the debian repositories is unequalled by other linux distributions. If it is available for linux, its likely to be in the debian repos.
Ubuntu is a fine distro, but the appeal come from the large community around it. Great, but less popular distros like Vector don't have projects like automatix appearing out of their fandom. The enormous community also means that users of all skill levels can get help more quickly. Other distros have less help available, or it may often be tailored to certain (often high) skill levels.
A simple correction - your prostate is between your urethra and your rectum. In fact, the prostate makes most of the liquid in the ejaculate. If your prostate is too large (BPH), then the the urologist will sometimes do a TURP (also in the BPH article), where the urologist basically goes up your urethra and scoops out heaps of the prostate, in order to free up some space for the poor fellow to relieve himself.
If concern for prostate cancer is raised, a biopsy is done with a terribly evil device that goes up the rectum and spears the prostate with six separate little needles. If they left a little capsaicin behind you would be so sore you wouldn't notice...However, the study as reported by the article was simply consumed capsaicin, not topically applied
I've recently given up my club membership, too. Really, over $100 for a year's subscription...when editions are only going to come out yearly! Mandriva did have gobs of packages...almost to the debian level. However, my main interest was all the nice proprietary software (no flames please), since I was a newbie.
I just updated my wife's computer to kubuntu and was pleased to see how easily installing the ATI drivers were with synaptic. The Debian repositories have more software than any other distro that I know of. Other than mandriva, I had always loved straight Debian and mepis. Now I am with happy kubuntu...bye bye Mandriva, it was a nice time...