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 Medsphere betrays community 

(6332 Reads) Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 01:05 PM
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Medsphere claims to be the "leading provider of open source software to the healthcare industry". However, Medsphere has sued the company founders Scott and Steve Shreeve because they released the companies code on SourceForge. The lawsuit states that release of the code came as an unwelcome and startling surprise to Dr. Kizer(the CEO of Medsphere)... and all of the Board members.

I have evidence that the basis for the lawsuit is false. In fact Ken Kizer was informed that the Shreeves intended to make the release on sourceforge, months before the Shreeves did so. I had hoped to avoid going public with this, and instead to convince MedSphere to drop the lawsuit and re-release the sourcecode. However, these attempts have failed. After the gap, you can find the full account of MedSpheres betrayal of the Shreeves and the Free and Open Source software community.

Fred Trotter
Before you read this article you should understand the historical background of the VistA hospital EHR system. If you already know what VistA is and why it is important, read on.

Medsphere is arguably the most famous VistA vendor. However, some in the VistA community have wondered why Medsphere, which touts itself as an open source company, has not released their improved code back to the community. I and other VistA community members have been concerned that Medsphere might have made a proprietary product around VistA. I have been publically commenting about this for quite some time.

I first emailed Medsphere on August 29 2005 regarding an article on CNET which indicated that Medsphere was keeping a portion of their software proprietary. At that time I received a phone call from the Shreeves informing me that the article was a mistake and that Medsphere was going to do a full FOSS release.

Later, an article in ModernHealthCare also indicated that Medsphere would be proprietarizing VistA. I contacted Medsphere again. This time I had an email exchange in which MedSphere CTO Steve Shreeve assured me that Medsphere was going to release code under a FOSS License. Most importantly Steve cc'ed his response to me to Medsphere CEO Ken Kizer. In the same exchange, Ken Kizer sent me a note in which he indicted that he had received Steve's email. You can read this exchange here.


This email exchange proves that Ken Kizer was informed regarding the Shreeves' plans to release the source code.

The Shreeves were not the only Medsphere employees that believed that Medsphere was a Free and Open Source company. George Timson, a star in the VistA community, was employed by MedSphere. Timson also made a public statement about MedSphere's intention to release the code.

When I heard about the MedSphere vs. Shreeves lawsuit I contacted Eric Raymond to see if together we could approach MedSphere and attempt to broker a peaceful resolution. Eric agreed and I sent a letter to MedSphere and other interested parties documenting the problem with Medsphere's behavior.
You can read about the attempts that Eric and Fred have made to make peace with Medsphere.

Medsphere has been unwilling to discuss solutions with either Eric or myself. Medsphere implied that if Eric and I knew all of the information in the lawsuit, then we would not have a problem with the situation. Both Eric and I decided to wait to go public with the issue until we could read what exactly MedSphere was claiming in the lawsuit.

I have now read the MedSphere Amended Complaint. I will soon be posting a full analysis of the lawsuit. For now it is enough to summarize.

• Medsphere's claim that Ken Kizer was uninformed about the release is central in all of their arguments.


• The supposed "secret" release of the source code is the only proof that the Shreeves intended to harm Medsphere. All of the Shreeves' actions can be easily explained without attributing any malice to the brothers.


• Medsphere is not only suing the Shreeves, but also any FOSS community members who downloaded the code from SourceForge.


• If Medsphere's action continues unchecked and is allowed to stand as precedent, the ability of Free Software and Open Source communities to work with corporations will be damaged.

If you disagree with Medsphere's actions please find a way to contact Medsphere and let them know what you think. Remember, letters are better than email, phone calls are better than letters, and face to face meeting are the best of all. It is not too late for MedSphere to reconcile with the community and with the Shreeves. However, the free software and open source communities must take action to let Medsphere know that its behavior is totally unacceptable.


Regards,
Fred Trotter