There have been a few questions and comments on the forum about medical PDA software that works with Windows Vista.

The current advice from Skyscape and Epocrates is below:

Skyscape:

Dear Chris,

If you are thinking of upgrading to Windows Vista> then go ahead. All of your favorite Skyscape resources are completely Vista compliant.

Many of you have known us as pioneers with a rich history of over 13 years of innovation in the mobile medical information market. Based on our philosophy of offering a broadest portfolio of resources on the widest array of platforms, we have been allowing you to tailor your experience to suit your needs. It is no surprise that we anticipated Windows Vista release and are ready with the compatible mobile and desktop resources. So you can have complete confidence using all your Skyscape resources and programs with Windows Vista, utilizing Palm Hotsync and Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center (the Vista replacement for ActiveSync).

We’re keeping our steadfast commitment to being the most up-to-the-minute, trusted mobile medical information provider and most technically advanced company with your best interests at heart. It’s just another reason to trust Skyscape - and enjoy using it!

If you need any details on how to handle the Vista upgrade for Skyscape resources or for any other matter, please visit, www.Skyscape.com/Support. And remember, our online chat is open for you 24×7x365.

Sincerely,
The Skyscape Team

Epocrates:

Dear Chris,

We think it’s important to let you know that many Palm® OS and Windows Mobile® (Pocket PC) OS software applications, including all Epocrates products, cannot at this time be installed or synced via computers with the new Windows Vista operating system.

We strongly recommend that if at all possible, you postpone installing Vista or upgrading to a new PC with Vista installed.

Since resolution of this problem depends upon software changes by both Palm and Microsoft, we regret that we cannot give you a firm date for a fix.

If you are already using Windows Vista, please review our FAQ for the latest recommendations from our customer support and engineering teams. Read FAQ »

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

The Epocrates Team

Journalist: Let’s imagine a hospital where life support systems are running Vista. Would you trust it with your life?

Bill Gates: Security has been the top priority for Microsoft for quite some time and that’s why I put out a key call for us to focus on that in a very big way over three years ago, and that’s why we’ve made investments like having people from Gecad ( Romanian company ) join on the security action from Microsoft. The answer to your question is that, absolutely, Vista is the most secure operating system we’ve ever done, and if it’s administred properly, absolutely, it can be used to run a hospital or any kind of mission crytical thing. But it’s not as simple as saying “If you use Vista, that happens automatically”. The issues about patient records and who should be able to see them, the issue about setting up a network, so that authorized people can connect up to that hospital network, the issue about having backup power, so that the computer systems can run even if the generators go down. There are a lot of issues to properly set up that system, so that you have the redundancy and the security walls to make sure it fullfils that very crytical function. So we are working with partners to raise their skills to make sure that when get involved in an installation like that they can make it secure. So I feel better about Vista than any other operating system, but there’s a lot of things that need to be done well, and we’re certaintly committed to step up and make sure these security issues are ieasier and better understood.

Source: Our-Picks.com