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Ask HN: Why haven't the industries embraced open platforms

3 points by scorpioxy ↗ HN
I work in the health care field as a programmer and i am sick and tired of proprietary software that doesn't work correctly and providers that don't answer their phone.

So my question is, why do you think the industries, and especially the ones that deal with health care, haven't embraced open source and free software? Even though they all seem to understand the danger of having their data locked away and their business tied to the whims of bad providers.

My take is that it is because there are very few businesses that offer support for such solutions. And large organizations always fear that they won't have the man-power or know-how to fix it themselves(which is a totally legitimate reason). Do you agree? And what if we solved that problem? Or is it about politics more than technical merit?

6 comments

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aristus
I don't think it's solely politics or technical merit.

Put it this way: I'll bet your personal computer is well-maintained, well-researched, and generally works better than the average civilian's. The same probably goes for people in your immediate family.

Now imagine a lawyer who does not know anyone who is a programmer. Odds are her computer is a virus-filled default Dell piece of crap, or if it's not, she pays someone a lot of money to keep it running for them. It works, but is probably not A+ for the money.

Meanwhile you pay lots of money for legal advice and general legal know-how... and how do you even choose the right lawyer? You end up depending on your friend's anecdotes. Ignorance costs you in money and quality.

Same thing with non-tech industries. They simply don't know enough to ask and to evaluate risk/benefit correctly.

scorpioxy
Interesting comment. So how do you think this can be fixed?
aristus
It's not a problem to be fixed at the macro-scale... it's a fact of life. You are not going to know everything about everything. For the things you need done that you can't do yourself, you end up paying someone else to do it. Your knowledge of that area will determine what quality you get for the money. Same with companies and industries.

The best way to convince a business that something is good is to demonstrate that it saves money or makes money. Direct or indirect, the link has to be pretty clear. (That's basically why startups are created and why they are important.)

Very very few people have the balls to be first. Usually innovative ideas are adopted out of necessity by people who would not have done it if they had the luxury of worrying about the risks.

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Tangurena
I think a lot of businessmen don't get it. They don't understand why one would write open source and/or free software, and many get hung up on the "you get what you pay for" thing (alternative: "anything free is worth what you pay for it").
Logic-Shop
In the Health Care industry, when technology doesn't work the way it's supposed to people can die, or at least be seriously negatively effected.

Without at least the illusion of support from a big official distributor, that responsibility stays entirely on the shoulders of the person who selected the technology.