[oclug] How open nature of Linux can work against it.

[The Linux Doctor]

On Sat, 12 Aug 2006 11:13:52 -0400
Rod Giffin <rgiffin at xplornet.com> wrote:

> But there are some roadblocks to general acceptance, things about the 
> nature of Linux, that actually works against it.  Fundamental things, 
> like it's open source, and distributed under the GPL.  And intellectual 
> property issues are not even part of the discussion.
> 

That does seem to be a bigger issue than it should be. Nothing
in the GPL prevents anybody from making proprietary software that runs
under Linux.


> The problem with open source software is that it makes it easy to modify 
> source code that impacts the operating system.  The consequence is there 
> are a lot of different ways of doing things in Linux, and many 
> distributions.  Linux has a good handle on monitoring changes, and 
> identifying what changed, who changed it, and potentially identifying 
> why it changed, but what it doesn't have a good handle on is what the 
> impact of the change is to the operation of the rest of the system.
> 

That is very true. One sees entries in the CHANGELOG documenting a
change or a fix followed sometimes later with, "Oh, I forgot this and
that really should be like something else."

> In the Pharma industry, everything that comes into "contact" with the 
> product or research is validated.  The validation a mandatory part of 
> life in this industry. 
>

I used to work in the nuclear industry where it is even more stringent
than the medical. The company I worked for, Nordion Internation, is a
company that services that industry so we too had to be compliant with
medical device regs. My particular expertise was software validation
and I wrote a paper on the subject of software valdiation of large
scale irradiators for the 5th International Symposium on Radiation
Processing as well as being part of one of the working groups
considering ISO 11137-1993 (sterilization of medial products). 



> The cost of computer system validation (CSV) to the industry is 
> enormous.  It can exceed the cost of the entire system by a factor of 
> several times.  A one hundred thousand dollar software development 
> effort can result in a million dollars worth of validation, or more. . . .

> With Linux, that isn't so possible.  There isn't an "industry standard" 
> Linux, so the costs validating the patching and upgrading of operating 
> system software aren't spread out over the entire industry, but only by 
> the companies with that identical configuration... often just one. 


Well, why doesn't somebody do something about it, and by that I mean
us! We're the linux experts. You and I at least know the industry and
what's involved. There is nothing that prevents us from coming up with
a distribution specifically designed to the needs of the medical
industry be it pharma, device manufacture, sterilisation, what have you.

Nothing but money that is. I've been wanting to do this for years and
have been met with either apathy or resistance. This *will* cost a lot
of money, and take several years of hard work to produce, but the
rewards are enormous. You understand the scales involved, so you know
that enormous means ENORMOUS!!!! !!

Anybody else here might be interested in pursuing this?

>>>--fja->


-- 

Any activity the end result of which depends on competition must
inevitably result in cheating.
===

All content submitted by Francis J. A. Pinteric under all
styles past present and future is copyright
the author. All Rights Reserved.
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