Claudio,
Welcome to the list! I'm very glad to hear of your project. I did look at
your web page, and like others found your use of Interbase encouraging. Do
you have any benchmark data for Interbase?
And I wouldn't worry about upsetting any Windows supporters . . . open
source is good for everyone!
With respect to your choice of Delphi & Kylix (Borland), and given the
description on your website, here is a (somewhat) objective perspective:
Delphi and Kylix are solid tools for the Windows platform. You have
chosen excellent tools. The life span of your product on a particular
version of Windows will be defined by the life span of the Windows desktop,
which is something Windows users have come to expect. For example, you
switched from Windows 95 to Windows NT. One might say that the life span of
the Windows 95 version ended when you switched to the Windows NT version
with Oracle. You can expect a similar switch from Windows NT to another
platform of Windows (for example Windows 2000 enterprise) in the near
future. In choosing Windows, however you have committed yourself to
maintaining several versions of your product for each Microsoft operating
system (Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 2000), because each product has it's
own special requirements for your application. Perhaps the API is
different, or the supporting libraries like Winsock is different from
product to product.
Your choice to support a Linux version is a decision worthy of
genius because you give the users the option of switching operating systems
when it is convenient for them. Developing first in Windows is a good move
because that operating system lends itself to prototyping a GUI. For a more
robust production environment, however UNIX remains the king of health care
and for good reason. When we consider new security requirements and data
management requirements imposed by the U.S. regulations (HIPAA), adopting a
UNIX based system is a key strategic move for you product - at least for
U.S. customers.
There is something else I notice on your website
(http://www.rad.unipd.it/progetti/raynux/rayUK.php3):
"The new version was developed using SQLServer 6.5( Microsoft): after four
months of excellent results the constant increment of the size of the db
created enormous difficulties to the stability of the system and we passed
terrible periods. In order to exceed these difficulties we made the great
step: Oracle. "
I have found this to be true for any enterprise application and confer on
your findings. Microsoft SQL in general has an upper bound of processing
capability that lies somewhere three and ten full-time users - which is a
very small number for a health care institution. Graduating to Oracle was a
good interim step, but moving ultimately to Interbase was a very wise
choice. As far as databases goes, Interbase is a strong open source
contender to any proprietary database.
As far a future development goes, you should look at Java Advanced
Imaging (http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/jai/index.html) The
demonstration I saw at the JavaOne conference this year shows that the
technology is robust enough to handle DICOM images quite well. And, I would
not underestimate the ability of people to adopt a Java solution quickly in
their business.
Hope that helps!
Richard Schilling
Webmaster / Web Integration Programmer
Affiliated Health Services
Mount Vernon, WA USA
http://www.affiliatedhealth.org
phone: 360.856.7129
-----Original Message-----
From: Claudio Saccavini [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 12:54 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Open Source Windows
Greetings all. This is my first post to this list since joining, so let me
take a quick moment to introduce myself.
My name is Claudio Saccavini, I am the chief of The Laboratory of Digital
Imaging in the Dpt Medical & Diagnostic Sciences at The University od Padova
(Italy). We are developing an Open Source project call Raynux about
Radiology software (RIS & PACS) and you can meet us at
www.rad.unipd.it/raynux/ .
We believe that Open Source is not against someone (Windows) but Open Source
means free knowledge.
We choose to develope our project using Delphi & Kylix (Borland) in order to
use the software with Windows or Linux: the operative system is a free
choice of the user himself.
What do you think about this solution?
Bye,
Claudio Saccavini
Lab Digital Imaging
Dpt Medical & Diagnostic Sciences, Radiology
University of Padova, Italy
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: +390498212456
