Thomas Beale wrote: > Rod Roark wrote: > > > > > > The point is, open source (as in Free Software) is NOT a business > > model. It's a method and end result of collaboration among users. > > I make good money at it only because some of those users are willing > > to pay me to do the techie work for them. > if someone is paying you something, then there is a business model. It's > better to be aware of what it is than pretend that it isn't there.... > > > > I repeat: NOBODY will pay thousands for certification of Free > > Software. They will use it because they already believe in it. > If the accreditation process and procedures are transparent and do > indeed show that anyone claiming to have an XYZ-compliant product really > does have such, then it is in the interests of the users. Put yourself > in the shoes of a purchaser (especially a health authority or > government). Let's say you are interested in DICOM software. Let's say > there are two products on the market that do what you want, but only one > is certified. You find out about the certification process, you discover > that the test cases are published as are the procedures for doing the > certification. You know that the certified product correctly processes > say 50 published test files, and does 65 other things described in the > process. Finally, let's say that the prices are within 30% of each > other. Which one do you buy?
Test files?In fact, there is no reason why automated test scripts couldn't be used to demonstrate compliance with the criteria described by CCHIT - see http://www.cchit.org/publiccomment4.htm - but I get the feeling that those framing the criteria had human actors in mind with respect to their test scripts. I might be wrong. Either way, it would seem quite feasible for an open source project to publish documentation of how it meets the certification criteria in the documents on the above Web page. Tedious to compile such documentation, but still only person-weeks (or at worst one- o r two-person months)of work, I suspect, not person years. Split it up between five or six people and its doable without danger of inducing madness. If a project did that, then the CCHIT charge for certification ought to be minimal, if anything at all. Tim C Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/openhealth/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
