Clymer/JR's Blog – March 2009 Archive (11)

In an earlier blog, I posted an analysis of the "open standards" effort in cloud computing, and the opposition coming from Microsoft. Yesterday, 30Mar09, IBM, Sun Microsystems & other collaborators released specifics on a proposed interoperability architecture which they dub the… Continue

Shakespeare's Hamlet utters..."the lady doth protest too much, me thinks". In a remarkable statement, Microsoft (arguably the archetype software predator) is complaining that "Cloud Computing" standards need to be more open. Though on its face, some may see this as the very height of hypocrisy, others now believe that reality has forced a change in azimuth for this behemoth. Could Microsoft's apparent embrace of open standards and interoperability be genuine. Read this interesting… Continue

The Harvard Clinical & Translational Science Center announced that it has completed its first round of Harvard Catalyst Pilot Grants funding. Harvard's Center is part of the national CTSA initiative managed by NIH. You can read more about the 62 grant recipients… Continue

The buzz over the last few days has been about the prospects of malpractice litigation reform as a part of the Obama administration's ambitious plans for overhaul of the US healthcare system. Read the latest from Associated Press AP1 , AP2. Given how beholden the party in power is to trial… Continue

AP reports on a considered change by the Dept of Health & Human Services (DHHS) in the "conscience" clause, which as implemented by the Bush administration, expanded protection for medical providers refusing to perform procedures on "moral grounds". There has been a heated debate between abortion opponents who favor these new rules, and advocates who fear a wholesale denial of services. The Obama… Continue

It had been at least 24 hours without a new Microsoft law suit. Well, they're at it again in classic Microsoft fashion with minions of attorneys trying legal intimidation to suppress anything NIH (not invented here). This time, they're suing Tom-Tom. The case is interesting, because it calls a lie to company efforts to coexist with the Linux open-source community. Read commentary from open source experts in this… Continue

Although many social networks have abandoned disease-specific groupings to solicit clinical trial candidates, the concept (patient-to-trial matchmaking service) is being resurrected with some new twists. Read about it in this article from eCliniqua.

SCREED ALERT!!! (Not a typo, although 'SCREWED' may be equally appropriate)



Orwell called it 'newspeak' and 'doublethink', and I'm beginning to feel like "1984"'s Winston Smith. MedTechIQ recently revealed a freshly minted OMB instrument entitled A New Era of Responsibility-Renewing America’s Promise. Is anyone really swallowing whole this offensive drivel? Sadly, I know the answer, and it… Continue

An interesting article, exposing PHR vulnerabilities. M. Eric Johnson, director of the Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, was able to access electronic medical records on computers that had the peer-to-peer programs stored on their hard drives. The medical files contained detailed personal data on physical and mental diagnoses, which a hacker could use to not only embarrass a patient but also to… Continue

Though somewhat technical, this paper addresses growing concerns over browser insecurity. It describes the current climate well: as web sites (have) evolved into dynamic web applications composing content from various sources, browsers have become multi-principal operating environments with resources shared among mutually distrusting web site principals. The paper introduces readers to a Microsoft Research/Univ of… Continue

If you think cloud, think virtualization, think large cap companies investing in data center delivery services, think Intel 'Nehalem™' processors, and now think… Continue