[Klug-general] Ubuntu used in the fight against AIDS

[Matthew Macdonald-Wallace]

Morning all,

For those of you who don't subscribe to the fridge RSS feed, I found  
this in my inbox this morning:

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/820

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iDart, or the intelligent Dispensing of Antiretroviral Treatment, is a  
pharmacy system written in Java that is used at antiretroviral (ARV)  
pharmacies. Initiated in 2004 as a partnership between Cell-Life and  
the Desmond Tutu HIV foundation, iDart is in use as five different  
locations around South Africa aiding in the treatment of over 8,500  
HIV+ patients.

Cell-Life announced that it has created an iDart-in-a-box system which  
was originally implemented and distributed as software for Microsoft  
Windows. Due to issues with reliability and security, Cell-Life has  
decided instead to do a complete system utilizing Ubuntu Linux. The  
iDart-in-a-box includes a mid-range PC, a Zebra label printer, an HP  
DeskJet report printer, barcode scanner, a UPS and a GSM modem. The  
cost for this system lies within the hardware as there are no software  
licensing costs, and one of these systems can be purchased for  
approximately R10,000 (1,350 US$)

Cell-Life plans to further its commitment to supplying community  
health clinics with systems that work, all of the time, and with Ubuntu

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I think the key phrase here is "[the] iDart-in-a-box system which was  
originally
implemented and distributed as software for Microsoft Windows. Due to  
issues with reliability and security, Cell-Life has decided instead to  
do a complete system utilizing Ubuntu Linux."

Surely this is a real-life example that the linux community as a whole  
can hold up and say "this is making a huge difference to people's  
lives - and look, the FUD from microsoft about TCO and costs is  
absolute rubbish!"

Please blog this, link to it, Digg it, what ever you can to publicise  
this - this is a real marketing opportunity for the entire Linux  
Community - "Linux. It's not for geeks anymore.  It's main stream and  
it  has real-world applications"[0]

M.

[0] I know, I know, there's the internet, that's a real-world  
application, but most people don't see it like that! :)