One of my clients has suggested I write pharmacy software. He has a home-grown Clipper app that does everything from Dispensing to Cash Register. I give him a hand with it from time to time. He reckons there's a market for a low-cost package which would fit the Western Australian situation better than the off-the-shelf ones now available.
So comes then the ever-present question: Closed Source, or Open Source.
No knowing a lot about how Open Source works as an income generator, I fear that there is the risk that my non-Open Source competitors may steal my ideas and woo my customers away because they have the resources to bring them (the ideas, not the customers) to the market faster than I can. Is that a valid concern?
Closed Source isn't without its problems either.
And then comes the other questions: programming language / IDE / RAD. I wonder if anyone's come up with a template for software projects in the style of Word / Excel / PowerPoint templates.
Open sourced libraries, closed sourced application?
ReplyDeleteI don't think there are many closed doors to break while writing pharmacy software.
OTOH you'll always need better libraries (and with enough eyes...)
Well, tools
ReplyDeleteRAD/IDE
Rule of the thumb:
- RAD for one-shot, throw-away projects (you'll draw almost everything, write some parts, forget all in 2 months)
- IDE for long-time projects (you'll have to write all by hand, probably develop some configure/make/make-build scripts, but you'll have full control-all the time)
Languages:
- For web based (simple to complex order): PHP, Ruby on Rails, Java Servlets
- Standalone (portable -> nonportable): Java, C#, VB
I wouldn't want to use Perl for anything outside system administration ;-)
I wouldn't use Java applets for programs bigger than desktop calculator.
If there is any checklist/decision maker for such projects - I wouldn't use the ones made in Word/Excel/PowerPoint. The tools say something about maker, don't they? ;-)