I don't want to cause a big argument here but after reviewing OIO, I feel that even though you have the actual software out for this project, you are lacking in some big areas, the main one being good documentation. Maybe I'm missing something here but I found it difficult to compare to openEHR in that you had no design principles, or modelling guides. Also I think Thomas has a point when he says
actually, I suppose one thing we are doing which most other efforts are not is spending time and effort on working with the key standards bodies, mainly CEN and HL7, plus some national standards bodies (au, uk, nl). And another is that we publish specifications, not just code.The only way I see open source projects in medicine/dentistry ever being accepted as mainstream is by working with standards bodies. As much of a pain that can be, it is the only way to gain acceptance. It seams like the hardest battle is the political one. It is one I am fighting now in the ADA.
Where is OIO on this? I think that is why it has taken OpenEHR more time in delivering executable code. There is tremendous work that has to be done early on here before a product can be delivered. I think the only way that I can discover OIO is just to install it and try to figure out how it is similar to openEHR's methodology. Also, it seems that openEHR is trying to make this open to many platforms and many programming languages. OIO may allow you to run on multiple platforms, but can it be implemented in other languages since it is is restricted to Zope?
We had some pretty extensive discussions comparing OIO forms to GEHRAlso, Andrew, if OIO is so similar to openEHR (templates vs archetypes), why don't you join their efforts. You can help shape openEHR in areas that you see fit. From what I have studied here, forms maybe a whole lot simplier than archetypes, but archtypes are more powerful than forms which is another reason why this takes time. I would like you to compare the two in terms of how forms describe data structures such as lists, table series, tree structures, datatypes, etc.
archetypes over the past few years on this list. To my knowledge, openEHR
archetypes are essentially GEHR archetypes.
Hope to hear from you soon
Dr. Rob Stark
