Karsten Hilbert wrote: > On Sat, Mar 12, 2005 at 09:38:08AM +1100, Tim Churches wrote: > > >>Horst wrote: >> >>>If you check the available code, you'll see that gnumed doesn't really need >>>that much work any more to become fully functional. > > functional != usable by Joe User, MD.
I agree. That's why we have indicated to Horst that we really need to see his GnuMed-mini to assess its value-proposition versus funding work on Gnumed-proper (or alternatives such as Vista Office, OSCAR etc). >>I have been monitoring the GnuMed email list for the last 18 months, and >> the level of activity on GnuMed development is quite amazing > > ... > >>(If anything, I feel that GnuMed is in danger >>of becoming over-designed and over-engineered, and that the absolutely >>excellent has become the enemy of the good enough, but that's just my >>opinion). > > This is perhaps correct. > > >>However, there is still a HUGE amount of work to be done before GnuMed >>is ready for production use. > > ... > >>... because moving from >>Version 0.x to version 1.0 involves enournous attention to zillions of >>details ... > > > Tim, I always much enjoy reading your sobering messages. I > think you are very realistic about a lot of things. I am > really happy to have you monitor us and give advice (eg reign > in the madness ;-) Thanks Karsten. I was sincere in what I said about the quality of the GnuMed work. However, I am an obsessive doctor too, and looking at the GnuMed project I recognise the same (Quixotic) quest for perfection and generality as I suffer from in my own projects. However, I am perhaps fortunate to be limited by deadlines and a fixed budget, as well as working with a truly excellent analysts/programmer who constantly points out "If we add feature A then there is no way we will have time to add B, C or D". On the other hand, I have to stop him when he proposes "If we just refactor module X, then everying else will be so much easier/more elegant/robust." - when module X has already been reworked several times and is Good Enough. I think it is a matter of finding the "sweet spot" between having enough time to do a good job, and having a fixed deadline and some defined deliverables in order to drive the project towards some significant milestone. Tim C _______________________________________________ Gnumed-devel mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnumed-devel
