Here is a list of what I see as logical absurdities to proprietary software in medical records that Free/Open Source Software in medicine may have an answer for:

• Sunsetting, corporate buy-outs, bankruptcy, patient outliving their software.
• Mobile workforce: 1 doctor 5 practice settings 5 different EMR GUI’s in 1 week. Training, re-training, re-re-training.
• Disaster preparedness (see item 2 above).
• Vendor lock-in.
• Duplication of engineering costs.
• Meta-applications built on substrate without asking permission: simulators, bio-surveillance, yet-to-be-conceived apps.
• Ensuring confidentiality.
• Software forensics in the case of malfeasance.
• Error reduction studies and engineering in a proprietary software mosaic.
• No one vendor with enough engineering resources.
• Corporate agenda not in harmony with customer needs.Please feel free to add to this list or refute it.