“If you look at the list of what the iPad is missing, you'll discover a security wonk's greatest dreams:

-Difficult or impossible for unauthorized background processes to run.
-One-to-one user-to-system mapping obviates the need for RBAC.
-Limited software availability with baroque approvals process.
-Limited (8 pages at a time) browser with mature engine and standards support.
-Limited local storage with only api access to locally stored information.
-Limited server processes listening (just the iTunes mDNS listener).
-No Adobe Reader (uses an Apple authored PDF interpreter).
-No Adobe Flash.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/592038/Will_iP...

In my limited testing, I like Safari more as it renders pages better and I didn't see much of a speed advantage.

PCMag did a nice review:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362599,00...

2. Some facilities are still on Windows XP (circa 2001). Changing operating systems is a huge endeavor for a facility of any size. Many are still waiting to see if Win7 will have the same fallout as Vista did.

5. OS4 brings application state snapshots that very much resemble Multitasking = AWESOME.

7. And they would laugh and send me on my merry way

8. Good point about Opera. I've only used Opera on mobile platforms. I'll give it a spin on the desktop this week.

11. Oh, if someone would only let me test an iPad for a while!

And good add BTW on the new Opera Mini app – very exciting.

PS: Opera is available for iPhone/iPad now –

http://itunes.apple.com/app/opera-mini-web-brow...

(Be aware that Opera Mini directs all traffic thru it's servers so one wonders whether there could be security issues.)

All in all, a wonderful addition to my doctor's bag!

Healthcare IT has struggled for a long time to bring the sort of services needed, to everywhere that they are needed. It is an area that might just be overtaken one day by companies that can build services for health on a larger and more integrated scale, and supporting an iPad will be trivial. But that will take maybe a decade. But it will leapfrog traditional healthcare IT systems that were built for a personal desktop metaphor.

The future is a myriad of connected screens with simple interfaces everywhere, synced to massive data centres. The iTunes store showed people were willing to use a music service. The iPhone app store showed people were willing to hand over “admin” tasks to a service that made getting software and installing it a task anyone can do walking down the street with three taps of their thumb.

Presumably a giant integrated service is what healthcare has wanted all along? Well the PC doesn't fit that. But it will take time. Much of existing software will need to be rewritten. But the hardware continues to become lighter and cheaper, and more ubiquitous, and networks provide ways to connect everything. So what matters most now is the actual data, and that always needed centralising anyway. So you're always wanted a service. PCs and small servers in departmental back rooms were just never architected for that sort of distributed scale.

All that data needs to be managed by professionals. Then it just needs to get where it is needed in the most convenient manner possible. A PC filesystem is pretty much irrelevant to that now, as a user exposed system. Multitouch and efficient CPUs and better battery technology and wider wireless networking is making the convenience factor ever more important. We won't necessarily be using Apple hardware in ten years, but the writing is on the wall for “personal” computing. Massive medical cloud services conveniently accessible by all who need them. That's the future.

5. I'll take “tech pundit” as a compliment.

I would like to make a distinction between being able to run multiple background processes and being able to run multiple applications. The iPod and phone services do allow you to perform other single functions simultaneously (web or email or apps). Without jail-breaking your iPhone then installing multifl0w, you absolutely cannot run multiple apps at the same time. Functions like sending an email from a web page contact link closes the web browser and opens the email application. Playing a YouTube video link from a webpage/other app drops Safari and starts the YouTube app. Downloaded apps from the App Store must be exited to enter another app.

Peter J. Haigh, FHIMSS
412 720 6838