VA IS LOSING ITS HOLD ON OPEN SOURCE VistA / CPRS SOFTWARE --

CODEWEAVERS, INC. IS THE LATEST BANDIT

The VA's VistA / CPRS is under attack from the private sector again.

Before the story, here is a brief explanation from our software guru, Tom...

And a link to some background information... http://www.vawatchdog.org/milcom/ciopowergrabatva-rev2.htm

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VistA software represents the VA's decade long development of healthcare software for managing the VA's healthcare system. Rather than rely on proprietary closed systems and applications, such as Windows, the VA brought the strengths of Free or Open Source software (FOSS) to their VistA project.

Programmers within the agency received specifications and produced the customized code to enable the VA to create what many consider one of the most efficient and flexible electronic healthcare management systems in the world. Interestingly, a culture has grown around this project over the years.

Today, in order to take advantage of the FOSS coding done by the government on behalf of the Public, one must submit Freedom of Information Act requests for specific source code. This process can be extremely frustrating for health clinics in inner-city neighborhoods, or clinics and hospitals in developing countries to build and maintain state-of-the-art healthcare management systems. Yet, today, agency programmers are quite open in expressing their possessiveness over the code they generated.

Representative Steve Buyer and Gang are blatantly setting the stage to privatize the VA, and centralize the VA's Information Technology departments. Once that happens, we can expect the VistA project to be removed completely from access by the Public to the source code, and the source code that is now owned by you and I will be turned over to a company that will put a price on it, and profits in its pockets.

CodeWeavers has just announced they will open the code to the world community. This would be quite exciting. To have the VistA project moved out of the VA's IT department, and into the world community for further development would be a huge contribution to the world. Unfortunately, CodeWeavers, even though they used all the right Open Source buzzwords, will actually be closing the doors on VistA, and taking it private. We can look to see what comes next: an announcement that CodeWeavers has secured a multi-billion dollar contract for VistA, paid for . . . by, you guessed it, you and me, the taxpayers.

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Story here... http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-20-2006/0004285190&EDATE=

Entire story below:

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Open Source Version Will Greatly Increase Appeal for Non-Profits, Developing
                                   Nations

    ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- CodeWeavers, Inc., the leading
Windows-to-Linux software developer, and WorldVistA, a U.S. non-profit
organization, today announced a strategic partnership aimed at making low-cost
healthcare management software more freely available worldwide.  As the
centerpiece of that partnership, CodeWeavers is porting the CPRS (Computerized
Patient Record System) component of VistA, a free electronic health records
software application developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, for
use on Linux open source computers.
    CodeWeavers' version of the VistA CPRS (Computerized Patient Record
System) graphical user interface will be promoted by WorldVistA to non-profits
as well as healthcare providers in developing nations around the world.  The
goal of the two organizations is to increase the viability of implementing
VistA, thereby giving providers the same capabilities in records management
enjoyed by their better-funded counterparts in the industrialized West.
    VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture), a
robust and proven client-server application, has been used and continuously
improved by the VA since the mid 1980's to support high-quality medical care
for military veterans in the United States.  Available for free public use via
the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, VistA and its accompanying CPRS is of
great value to healthcare organizations that cannot afford the immense cost of
proprietary commercial alternatives.
    CPRS (Computerized Patient Record System) is the primary physician
interface for VistA.  Currently available only for Windows, CPRS is being
converted for Linux by CodeWeavers using the company's well-known CrossOver
Office(TM) Windows-to-Linux porting technology.
    "VistA is a truly world-class healthcare application that can have a major
impact on the quality of healthcare globally," said Jonathan Parshall, chief
operating officer of CodeWeavers, Inc.  "One of the biggest challenges in
healthcare today is the lack of collaboration among healthcare providers due
to an incompatible technical infrastructure.  VistA excels in this area,
especially in the dissemination of treatment protocols and other therapeutic
guidelines."
    "Providing a Linux option for non-profit healthcare organizations in the
U.S. and elsewhere will be significant for the development of VistA," said
Maury Pepper, chairman of WorldVistA.  "Because Linux is a free operating
system, non-profits will have a much easier time implementing VistA in their
clinics with a Linux-based CPRS.  Because of our partnership with CodeWeavers,
we believe the VistA bandwagon will really begin to pick up steam in coming
months and years."
    CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office is widely considered to be the leading
Windows-to-Linux porting utility.  The application has made it possible for
scores of top-name commercial software products, from the Microsoft Office
suite to Microsoft Outlook, Visio, and Internet Explorer, Macromedia's
Photoshop and Dreamweaver, Intuit's Quicken and Quickbooks, and Lotus Notes,
to run natively under Linux without the need for a Windows license.
    Over 85% of the VistA CPRS operated out-of-the-box on Linux using
CrossOver Office.  Remaining functionality is being facilitated by CodeWeavers
programming specialists, with completion expected in the very near future.
    According to Parshall, CodeWeavers is currently evaluating a pricing model
that will enable healthcare organizations to acquire a CPRS-specific version
of CrossOver Office at little to no cost.  In developing nations, final
pricing will likely reflect a needs assessment of the particular organization.
     Availability of the Linux CPRS for VistA will be announced on the
WorldVistA web site when ready.  For more information, log on to
http://www.worldvista.org .

    About WorldVistA:
    WorldVistA seeks to make healthcare information technology more affordable
and more widely available worldwide.  In particular, WorldVistA is focused on
further developing and supporting the growing global VistA community.
    WorldVistA was formed to extend and improve the VistA health information
system for use outside of its original setting.  The system was developed by
the U.S. government for use in its veterans' hospitals and outpatient clinics.
WorldVistA has a number of development efforts aimed at adding new software
modules such as pediatrics, obstetrics, and other functions not used in the
veterans' healthcare setting.
    WorldVistA seeks to help those who choose to adopt the VistA system to
successfully master, install, and maintain the software for their own use.
WorldVistA will strive to guide VistA adopters and programmers towards
developing a community based on principles of open, collaborative, peer review
software development and dissemination.  Visit http://www.worldvista.org .

    About CodeWeavers, Inc.:
    Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers today
focuses on the development of Wine and other Linux programming solutions.  The
company's goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software
developers by making it easier, faster, and more painless to port Windows
software to Linux.  CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source
Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota,
California, the Netherlands, and Germany.  The company is privately held.  For
more information about CodeWeavers, log on to http://www.codeweavers.com .
    CrossOver Office is a trademark of CodeWeavers, Inc.  All other
technologies and brand names are used for information only and remain
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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Larry Scott

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