CNN.com is reporting that the Electronic Signatures in Global National Commerce Act, also known as E-Sign took effect Sunday. The law will give electronic signatures the same authority as their handwritten counterparts. The article goes into detail about the promise and security pitfalls of electronic signatures: ‘…the expanded definition of legal signatures and
flaws in the technology could contribute to fraud.
The law does not specify a type of technology for
e-signatures. They can be obtained through
secured processes, like secret passwords or digital
fingerprints, as well as unsecured ones, such as
faxed signatures or clicking an acceptance button
on a Web page.’ This will make it an interesting world in medicine where signatures on documents with legal weight are a frequent occurrence. The question is how soon will healthcare take advantage of this?
Pharmacopeia Available Free for Palm OS
In the tradition of ePocrates the popular free drug database for Palm, the ever popular Tarascon Pharmacopeia is now available via free download through MedScape.com. However, a free registration and a heavy-on-the-fine-print-not-GPL licensing agreement is required to download as well as the usual ‘click here if you don’t want to receive our marketing crud.’ Editor: Great stuff, the biggest missing piece right now in open source medical software is the lack of Palm projects. Any volunteers?
Adobe’s Framemaker Beta Release for Linux
Cnet Reviews Redhat 7.0
Cnet reviews RedHat 7.0 in this article. Highlights: ‘…those with their hearts set on stable releases of the Linux 2.4 kernel and the
KDE 2.0 desktop should probably sit tight…While it may seem a bit anticlimactic, 7.0 is far from a flop. This iteration of Red Hat’s distribution is in many ways the senior prom of commercial Linux. With this release, Linux
really seems to come of age…’ but it also offers the criticism: ‘Red Hat’s help system needs an overhaul…
ZDnet: Mac OS X a Hit
ZDnet.com has a lengthy article on Apple’s new Mac OS X which is built atop FreeBSD, an open-source Unix OS. The article reports users are generally happy with the new operating system and that it admirably supports non-technical people and geeks alike. This is a big improvement for the Mac OS which has had difficulties becoming a true-multitasking operating system despite being years ahead of everyone else in so many other categories.
osOpinion: Why Linux May Never Win the Desktop
osOpinion.com has an article entitled: ‘MAPI: Why Linux May Never Win the Desktop’ which explains MAPI and gives a compelling example of how difficult Microsoft will be to dislodge Justice department or no. ‘…The acronym for Microsoft’s Messaging Application Programming Interface is where MAPI gets its name. In some ways I find some irony in the fact that
they are a standardized set of the C Programming Language functions. Microsoft placed these C functions into a set of Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs).
Microsoft designed the functions and unwittingly they received support of many third party vendors. Later those vendors wound up being bought, humbled
or shut down by Microsoft.’ I’m sure that vendors of medical software would like to be in just such a position. This is and would continue to be a disaster for medicine and medical software.
RedHat 7.0 Debuts
Redhat is announcing their latest release: 7.0
New features are:
– OpenSSL–128-bit encryption for secure communication
– USB support for mice and keyboards
– Graphical firewall configuration tool
– XFree86 4.0 for improved video performance
– 2.4 kernel ready
– Cleaner, faster, more customizable GNOME desktop and Sawfish window manager
– Easily connect to the Internet right from the desktop
RedHat is also announcing a subscription service for software update support. What is notable is what isn’t there: the 2.4 kernel and a stable Netscape.
New Mozilla Roadmap: Version 0.9 in 1st Quarter
Mozilla.org has announced its new roadmap for delivery. For those of you who don’t know: Mozilla is a long anticipated, modular, standards-based and open source browser with a tumultuous past. But, it finally appears to be nearing completion. According to the roadmap, milestone 18 is to be delivered in October, with version 0.9 to be available in the first half of the 1st quarter of 2001. Note the nomenclature will change from ‘milestones’ to 0.x style releases in 2001. There will be a ‘branch’ at 0.9 to support Netscape 9.
LinuxMedNews Adds Event Calendaring and Polls
What is this that you spy to the left of your screen? A fully-interactive events calendar? And what is that to the right under the ‘Welcome’ box? A poll? Yes! In continuing efforts to serve the open source medical community. High-tech, progressive LinuxMedNews has installed these powerful new (open source) tools to keep you informed. If you have an event that you would like to see listed, simply click on the ‘New Event’ link under the calendar and fill out the form. If you have a question that you’d like to see statistics on, e-mail me.
Rx for Sinus Infection: Yellow Highlighter?
My mother-in-law recently visited her primary-care-provider, after failing to shake a sinus infection. After a brief examination, the Doc offered her some free samples of a nasal spray medication that would help to clear the infection up. Mom thanked the Doc and promptly left with sample in-hand…
When she arrived home, try-as-she-might, she could not figure how to open the nasal spray. After arriving at our home in the evening, she enlisted the aid of my wife, in trying to figure out how to open the nasal spray sample.
Finally, the top popped off, revealing some sort of applicator that had a yellow, felt-like tip. The chisel point gave it away.. the Doc mistakenly gave my mother-in-law a yellow-highlighter promo-piece made to look exactly like the nasal spray product it was promoting.
I can’t help thinking that somewhere, somebody has just sprayed a sentence in an article that they were reading, and are waiting for the text to turn yellow.