Joseph
Kevin Toppenberg wrote:
As the author of one such script, I would agree that
it is a "user beware" situation. It would be nice if
the work could be expanded upon and made more safe. But one has to start somewhere.
Kevin
--- steven mcphelan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
There is one issue I have with the WorldVistA VistA codebase. I mentioned this at Boston. But it needs to be brought up in this larger context. 1. Who has access to this code base to make any supposed modifications to it? 2. What relationship will all these "scripts" have to the official codebase? a. Will these scripts be certified by some official entity with WorldVistA as being fully compatible with the VA VistA code base and will do no harm to VA VistA? b. If not will the variances be documented? c. Is there a list of these scripts and their certification status by some entity in authority for WorldVistA? 3. To date, who has been allowed to make modifications to the WorldVistA VistA codebase? a. Have those modifications been well documented so that others can review them? b. Who decides what modifications will and will not be added to the WorldVistA codebase? c. Are there established, documented processes certifying these changes have done no harm to the VA VistA code base? d. Where is the documented plan to maintain, support, and update any modifications made to the VA VistA codebase? e. Is there a well defined software QA process established to certify any of these changes to the VA codebase. If so who is involved with this and are the findings available for review?
I could go on... Rick did promise that some of these may be addressed at the next WorldVistA meeting.
I think the audience needs right now a list of these scripts and which of these are officially blessed by WorldVistA (i.e., the Board and the President) and why. Or there should be a disclaimer presented with some such wording as "User beware and use at your own risk". Frankly, I believe people get this stuff from WorldVistA or hardhats and believe that it has the total and unreserved approval of the WorldVistA Board and the President of WorldVistA. I am not sure that approval really exists. I personally view these "scripts" as any other freeware. If you like it, use it, but YOU assume ALL responsibility for the outcome of using it.
As an example of these concerns: This move to internationalize VistA is no small trivial task, It will require extensive modifications of FOIA VistA. Thus each and every patch that is released by the VA will have to be scrubbed to make it internationalized ready for implementation into the WorldVistA codebase. Again this is no small trivial process. The code and the KIDS build has to be modified. Then it has to be extensively QA'd again. It needs to see if there are any new interactions with the FOIA codebase that did not exist previously. This is no simple, trivial, short-time frame task. Where is the published processes documenting who, what, where, when, and how this will be done (or any of the other modifications made)?
Or will the modified WorldVistA codebase be like HUI? I am under the impression (right or wrong) that the HUI VistA codebase is way out of synch with the current VA codebase, like maybe several years out of synch. I am not the only one with this impression.
I raise this up on this licensing thread because the
answers to these
questions will affect the license. If it is open
source, then I as an
end-user have the right to know exactly who, what,
when, where, and how
items are incorporated into the SUPPORTED codebase. WorldVistA does not
have a financial engine like Apache to generate
resources to maintain this
support.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Street" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Vista-Office -
..worldvista..openvista...opensource... off-topic
eh?
Well, riddle me this...... and I just didn't fall
off the turnip truck.
Several board members of WorldVista also have a
commercial interest in the
success of VistA, along with a few outside
commercial vendors who have the
dough to throw at this immense project.
How many code bases are there now? FOIA, HUI,
WorldVistA, OpenVistA? From
where I sit Medsphere with it's hired talent and
marketing power has a leg
up.
1. WorldVista is the organization - OpenVista is
the codebase. (T/F)
2. What specific 'open source' license(s) are
being considered for
'OpenVista'? 3. What boundaries in the fine print of the GPL
are of concern to the
WorldVista organization?
The boundaries that separate what's yours from
what's ours would be similar to
genetically modified corn or cotton seeds being
carried by natural or other
means from your field into my field. I imagine
the concept will have to be
similar to proprietary binary modules plugged into
the Linux kernel, or
binary only distribution of commercial components.
Anyway you look at it, your's vs. our's does not
foster broad community
support, involvement and innovation. Look to the
Apache project, PHP and
the Linux kernel of models that have succeeded in
this regard.
Like I have seen on a signature on Linux Today....
one must first understand
recursion to understand recursion.
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