On Sun, 14 Sep 2003, Thomas Beale wrote: > Andrew Ho wrote: > > > Finally, I don't see pure-standards efforts such as HL7 and OpenEHR > >giving us any "industry standard". It is against the vendors' interest to > >abide by adequately open standards. A sufficient industry standard can > >only come bundled with a sufficiently useful implementation. > > > Andrew, sometimes you post some real gems.
Thomas, Thanks, a sufficient number of random monkeys posting to OpenHealth should occasionally achieve the same :-). > As you imply above, the only way public specifications like HL7, > openEHR, etc can become truly ubiquitous and fully respected is if there > are high-quality open source implementations out there, Right, I am hoping to motivate you and your team to help OIO and other "willing" free software projects implement OpenEHR. I think that's the only way openEHR will ever see the light of day. Whatever "standard" we implement need not be perfect. In fact, we need to accept that it will not be perfect. It just has to be adequate. Do you think openEHR, as it is today, is adequate to support portable medical records? > at least of the interoperability layer, Based on my experience with OIO, offering an "interoperability layer" is not sufficient. Imaging the "VHS interoperability layer" being released as a "free spec" - would it have any chance replacing Sony's BetaMax video recording format? The only way to establish and protect any standard, IMHO, is to have a useful product that implements the "standard". "Open" standards are no different, except we need at least one (preferrably more than one) free and useful implementations. > to prevent corporations from using the vendor-lock-in strategy to > segment the market. Yes, that is sure to happen. Even before any standard is finalized, proprietary "enhancements" are typically planned or even ready-to-ship. I realize that the openEHR team is currently following a different roadmap. Maybe you would reconsider and put achieving at least one free implementation earlier on the roadmap? Best regards, Andrew --- Andrew P. Ho, M.D. OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes www.TxOutcome.Org
