Earlier in my career I mainly focused on technology which I perceived to be 'the latest greatest, coolest, etc.'. However, after seeing about 80% of projects using such technology fail miserably, I have a new found respect for any system which is reliable, meets the needs of its users, and has adequate performance/scalability. VistA seems to score pretty well in these categories.
Part of aforementioned failures stem from immature technology and jumping too quickly onto technological bandwagons which eventually fail to gain acceptance in the marketplace. Plenty of other reasons exist for the failures - mostly the same ones which existed when the term 'Software Crisis' was coined in the 60s.
--Marc
