shank001 - Slashdot User

Harvard Says Computers Don't Save Hospitals Money 398

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 01, 2009 @03:28AM from the always-jam-tomorrow dept.

Lucas123 writes "Researchers at Harvard Medical School pored over survey data from more than 4,000 'wired' hospitals and determined that computerization of those facilities not only didn't save them a dime, but the technology didn't improve administrative efficiency either. The study also showed most of the IT systems were aimed at improving efficiency for hospital management — not doctors, nurses, and medical technicians. 'For 45 years or so, people have been claiming computers are going to save vast amounts of money and that the payoff was just around the corner. So the first thing we need to do is stop claiming things there's no evidence for. It's based on vaporware and [hasn't been] shown to exist or shown to be true,' said Dr. David Himmelstein, the study's lead author."

Comment Re:woohoo! (Score 1) 621

by shank001 on Friday August 21, 2009 @03:33PM (#29149961) Attached to: Nokia Leaks Phone With Full GNU/Linux Distribution

Spoken like someone without a girlfriend.

This is /. We don't have girlfriends, so we don't know.

Comment Re:Shell apps? (Score 1) 621

by shank001 on Friday August 21, 2009 @03:26PM (#29149877) Attached to: Nokia Leaks Phone With Full GNU/Linux Distribution

I've been thinking about one of these new Linux phones for my next upgrade. What kind of access does one have to the shell? Can one using an ssh client? How does one transfer data to a Linux workstation? Can one install more shell apps (e.g. ipcalc, tdl and remind)?

Just buy yourself the Openmoko (http://www.openmoko.com). Install debian on it; and you can do whatever-the-hell-you-want-to!

Comment Re:More background info at ... (Score 1) 492

by shank001 on Thursday July 30, 2009 @12:30PM (#28883633) Attached to: CentOS Project Administrator Goes AWOL

You can read a bit more there what has happened.

You are new here aren't you?

Comment Re:Interesting idea.... (Score 1) 101

by shank001 on Thursday April 09, 2009 @11:12PM (#27527583) Attached to: Openmoko Phone Not Dead After All

I like the idea but everything I have read about the product says it is a lousy phone. And if it can't do that basic function well it doesn't matter what other neat things it can do, whether it is open software, open hardware, whatever. A phone that sucks is no sale.

Well the point is that this phone is a developer version. It was never meant to be used by your six-pack-joe. The phone does have great hardware (GSM (2G only), GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi, et al). The problem is the software stack. And this is where free software developers kick-in. The OM2008.12 distribution is good enough that makes the FreeRunner a basic phone. SHR is another distribution that's looking good. Andriod port for FR looks more and more promising by each passing week. Then there is the paroli begin developed by OM, that's written in python and I hear it's looking good too. Just give it some more time, and the software stack will start looking kick-ass!

Comment Re:Scrolling patent... (Score 1) 449

by shank001 on Tuesday January 27, 2009 @02:30AM (#26618527) Attached to: Apple Awarded Patent For iPhone Interface

'A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command.

So in plain english he is saying is:

I've developed a program which will know where you touch on a touch-screen(which is basically a touch-screen-driver). Didn't we have this in the linux before? This can be considered Prior Art right?

Let me elaborate:

a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command,

Implies that you can have vertical scroll. (Openmoko has this. You can do a vertical scroll on the home page)

a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command

Which is basically like the HTC Diamond Touch doing effects like compiz.

a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.

Which says that you have a gesture to go to the next item. (again Openmoko already has this. The illume keyboard changes the keyboard format on slide)

When most of the code is out there, how can this patent be granted!

Comment Compiz Fusion?? (Score 1) 1

by shank001 on Thursday January 01, 2009 @06:34AM (#26289851) Attached to: Future of Compiz Uncertain

Comment from a Compiz user from http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/compiz/2008-December/003238.html

"Dramatically ugly, unusable, slow, badly animated and unconsistent. Open source development without a serious, expert mantainers can result in chaotic grouth of the project and waste of human resources into pointless code. The Compiz-Fusion project is certainly the most representative example of all this"

This, I think, really sums up the state that this project is in.

Ballmer Admits Google Apps Are Biting Into MS Office 293

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 17, 2008 @09:58PM from the legacy-of-clippy dept.

twitter points out coverage of a discussion between Steve Ballmer and two Gartner analysts in which the Microsoft CEO admits that Google Apps is enjoying an advantage over Office by users who want to share their documents. He points to Office Live as their response to Google, and adds, "Google has the lead, but, if we're good at advertising, we'll compete with them in the consumer business." Whether or not they're good at advertising is still in question, if their recent attempts are any indication. Ballmer also made statements indicating some sort of arrangement with Yahoo! could still be in the works, but Microsoft was quick to step on that idea. Regarding Windows Vista, he said Microsoft was prepared for people to skip it altogether, and that Microsoft would be "ready" when it was time to deploy Windows 7.

Comment Re:You are REALLY underestimating them. (Score 1) 302

by shank001 on Wednesday October 15, 2008 @01:38AM (#25379113) Attached to: Australian State May Give Students Linux Laptops

> It's not like we are asking them to use LaTeX.

\documentclass[10pt,a4paper]{slashdot_reply}
\usepackage{href}
\begin{document}

Who said that \LaTex was difficult to use?
%It's so much fun!
\end{document}

Quebec Govt Sued For Ignoring Free Software 388

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 28, 2008 @02:58AM from the what-about-the-cheap-stuff dept.

Mathieu Lutfy writes "The CBC is reporting that 'Quebec's open-source software association is suing the provincial government, saying it is giving preferential treatment to Microsoft Corp. by buying the company's products rather than using free alternatives. ... Government buyers are using an exception in provincial law that allows them to buy directly from a proprietary vendor when there are no options available, but Facil said that loophole is being abused and goes against other legal requirements to buy locally.' The group also has a press release in English."

How To Speed Up Linux Booting 301

Posted by kdawson on Saturday March 24, 2007 @01:36PM from the up-and-running dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A common complaint about Linux is the amount of time the operating system takes to start. Like Linux itself, there are plenty of options and lots of flexibility for boot-time optimization. From dependency-based solutions like initng to event-based solutions like upstart, there's an optimization solution that should fit your needs. Using the bootchart package, you can dig in further to understand where your system is spending its boot time to optimize even more."

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