MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-02-27 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Vista and GNU/Linux - paid gigs
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Vista sees end-to-end Linux in its future
Story originally published February 22, 2006
WorldVista, the not-for-profit organization developing an open-source
version of Vista, the clinical information system used by the Veterans
Health Administration, has announced a partnership with developer
CodeWeavers of St. Paul, Minn., that will allow a version of Vista to
run end-to-end on a Linux operating system. Currently, a portion of
Vista that includes its user interface, its computerized patient record
system, or CPRS, runs on Microsoft Corp.'s proprietary Windows operating
system.
CodeWeavers has created a CPRS-specific version of its CrossOver Office
translator product to run CPRS on computers with the Linux open source
operating system, the company said in a news release this week. The
translator employs Wine, an open-source software developed over the past
12 years that enables other Windows programs to run on Linux.
Site license fees for Windows can be a barrier to adoption of clinical
IT systems, particularly in the Third World, where WorldVista is aiming
to boost IT use, according to Joseph Dal Molin, vice president for
business development for WorldVista.
"It probably won't matter much in North America," Dal Molin said, but,
"if you're looking at hundreds of users in a hospital in India, it
mounts up."
Wine has been used for years to run Microsoft Office and other Windows
applications on Linux systems without slowing system performance, Dal
Molin said.
More than 85% of CPRS' functions can be run on the new translator, with
completion of the porting project expected "in the very near future,"
according to the company.
Pricing for the CPRS adaptation of the software has not been set, but
Jon Parshall, chief operating officer of CodeWeavers, said for North
American users it will likely run about $40 for the first year, with
discounts for volume sales and not-for-profit and government
organizations bringing the per-license costs below $20.
Annual support costs would run around $10 to $20 per user, Parshall
said. In the Third World, he said, the company hopes to negotiate a
blanket license with the government of the country where Vista is being
used.
The entire Vista program is available free for the downloading from the
Veterans Affairs Department, but it is set up to run on Windows and
Cache, a proprietary version of the MUMPS database and programming
language sold by InterSystems Corp.
WorldVista releases a version of Vista that has been adapted to run on
GT.M, an open-source iteration of MUMPS developed by Sanchez Computer
Associates. The addition of a finished Wine-based Windows translator
would complete WorldVista's all-open-source development scheme.
"I think the most exciting part of the announcement is the whole notion
of open-source software and what it can do for the human race," said
Parshall. CodeWeavers does about half its business overseas, and that is
where Parshall said he sees the bulk of the market will be for its CPRS
adaptation.
Several national governments in Europe are embracing open source
software in a move against the perceived hegemony of Microsoft operating
systems, Parshall said. In the Third World, the interest in open source
is driven more by financial necessity. South Africa, for example, is
considering moving the entire government sector to Linux-based operating
systems, he said.
"The same model might end up applying to Vista," Parshall said.
Healthcare officials in Mexico, Panama, Malaysia, Egypt and India have
expressed interest in adapting Vista to their operations. In Mexico, for
example, the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, has launched the
GT.M-based version of CPRS at 12 hospitals in Mexico City, Monterey and
Guadalajara.
"In places like India and Ghana, it's going to be a good enough
solution," Parshall said. "We, as an organization, are really committed
to bringing the cost of computing down to the point where it's not just
wealthy Western nations that can benefit from healthcare information
technology.
"We need to get paid for this, but none of us at CodeWeavers wants to
buy a 15,000-square-foot mansion beside the ocean," he said.
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