Hello AC Community,
I would like to begin by apologizing to the AC community. I realize my approach toward this community was inappropriate a couple weeks ago in the ?Practice Rolodex? thread. That is not who I am, nor how I approach people in general. I?ve been in communication with Dr. Adams (Bert), and he has given me some advice on how to handle this matter appropriately, which is to apologize and be honest about why I?m here. I totally agree with him because honesty is very important to me.
My name is Lawrence Barris and I?m a software engineer by trade. I have been programming for 11 years. I was trained in the corporate environment of developing software, and worked for a well known company (ASG) for 6 years. In 2006 I was laid off, and the following year I started my own consulting software business to develop software; medical software in particular.
One of the main reasons I started developing medical software is due to the passing away of my mother from breast cancer in 2005. Her doctor never contacted her with the test results that confirmed that she was terminally ill. This led me to develop a ?patient reminder application? that would send automatic reminders to patient?s to notify them of upcoming appointments.
Throughout my research last year I came across AC, and I?ve been in communication with Dr. Bertman through email since that time. He has seen my software and was impressed by it. He put me on a list so that I would receive his new AC SDK, which would allow me to start developing the integration of my application to his application (AC). At this time (last year) he was in middle of developing the long-awaited PM. While waiting to receive the SDK, from time-to-time, I would tour his website. I noticed that he had a user board where he could receive feedback from his clients, which impressed me because it showed that he valued his client?s opinions.
While browsing the user board I started noticing a host of complaints, in particular, with the Practice Rolodex. Over time, I saw where the Rolodex issues weren?t being fixed. I understood that Dr. Bertman was very busy and he probably didn?t have the time to fix all the problems right away. Due to my experience with software development, I thought maybe I could help out.
I began developing an alternative solution that I thought could be a companion to AC future releases. I emailed Dr. Bertman over a month ago, to let him know I have a product that he and the AC community might be interested in. Looking back at my approach, I must admit it was very forward. What I should have done was email him before I even started developing the solution, and patiently wait for a response. So yes, my earlier actions were inappropriate, which is where all the confusion came in with me about marketing and soliciting.
I hope that I?ve shed some light on this matter and hope you can understand why I came on as strong as I did.
To make amends, I would like to give a gift of the product to all members on the UB. I?ll keep you posted on the release date.
