I think he was speaking a little too soon... obviously thats a too engineering focused response.
There is so much thought going on in this area, the next year is going to be very interesting in healthcare.
There is so much thought going on in this area, the next year is going to be very interesting in healthcare.
The theory I'm putting forth is that Google tends to see things in the abstract. "The world needs a web based office package" vs "Company X has 100,000 employees and they want this feature". The later response is how a traditional software company like Microsoft thinks.
So for Google solving the problem of medical records for the world means going to people they perceive as deep thinkers (like researchers) and devising a system in a vacuum. Where as Microsoft would go to the line-staff level and design up.
(and for the record I'm not necessarily condemning either strategy. In fact I think the best possible scenario is to have two companies with those philosophies competing with each other)
Presumably, the researchers building open-source EMR systems do talk to patients and hospitals rather than building abstract software in a void. They don't, however, need to worry about profitability and would be more free to integrate with other systems and not try to create lock-in.