Re: [Gnumed-devel] gnumed ideas 0.1 and post-0.1 (was Time for a major re-think in 2005)

[J Busser]

At 2:46 PM +0100 2/15/05, Karsten Hilbert wrote:
>  > - Might web-enabling be a helpful stepping stone?
> No. Helpful yes. Stepping stone likely not.
>
> >  Right now, it is EASY
> >  for people to LOOK at OSCAR. That is not possible with gnumed.
> Well. People don't have a clue of what they are looking at. If
> you really want a latest-technology SUV you cannot go check out
> the second-hand cars at your local dumpster. But you may
> decide that all you really need is a second hand standard.

Here is what I am thinking:

We will want doctors or their business managers or regional advisory 
groups (who might contribute public money to subsidize doctors' 
movement to full, or even partial, EMRs) to consider FOSS and 
specifically GnuMed but here is what we will be up against:

- vendors will crap (is this term used outside N America?) on FOSS

- business managers and regional advisory groups will be concerned 
about experience to date with FOSS and certainly, in Canada, the only 
medical experience to them will be with OSCAR. They will either

- -  view it as a "possible solution"about  which "some users / 
clinics / centres remain enthusiastic" which may cause these 
decision-makers to give preference to this "known, proven(?) entity" 
which can put GnuMed at a competitive disadvantage to get established 
especially for things like "seed money" and especially if OSCAR 
becomes more established, --OR--

- - discern that some challenges exist with OSCAR structurally and 
functionally (including how to not have the investments later fall 
flat from lack of support).

The doctors can be a source of advocacy for what will meet their 
needs, ideally in a robust fashion so our challenge is to get their 
attention. I was thinking that a browser might be deployable in a 
short enough time frame to permit catching up to some of OSCAR's 
basic functionality, so that potential users (or decision-makers over 
pilot projects) could have their choice of OSCAR or GnuMed. I was NOT 
thinking of a browser as a stepping stone to a browser growing into a 
primary long term solution... just as a flexible means of providing 
early PARTIAL access to GnuMed. I WAS thinking as a stepping stone to 
ESTABLISH GnuMed as something deserving more consideration, and its 
ADOPTION by enough groups to remain viable.