Epocrates beta expires today 48
The day has finally arrived. While there was a moment where webOS users working in healthcare had reason to hope for an eleventh-hour reprieve, sadly it wasn’t to be. Epocrates for webOS ceased functioning today.
While other choices remain, to say this is a disappointing outcome is certainly an understatement. Rewind twelve months to the buyout of Palm by HP and there was plenty of reason to be enthusiastic about the future of the app catalog. Certainly there's no denying the enthusiasm of the people within HP when it came to webOS's future prospects. None of that, however, changed the announcement of Epocrates' departure last December. As time passed, declarations of scale, enterprise presence, or distribution prowess did little to change the course of events. Even HP listing Epocates specifically as an app that they were working on getting back did nothing to avert today. In fact, Epocrates' last word on the matter was to add the Veer, Pre3 and TouchPad to the list of unsupported devices and suggest we take a look at a different OS.
How is the webOS enthusiast to take this news? With so much lead time, perhaps the valupe proposition HP was making didn’t resonate, or maybe the stakes in healthcare weren’t high enough. We may never know for sure, and perhaps in time fortunes will change for the better. After all, there’s no denying that HP’s first halo product is highly anticipated in the tech world, and HP seems to be pulling out all the stops when it comes to that launch on July 1st. Sometimes a little momentum is all it takes. Still, the fact today remains the same. For webOS fans in medicine, we might win some but we just lost one.
48 Comments
:( Sad day.
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get over it
My thoughts on this is ....
1) Go to hades Epocrates
2) Maybe someone should pick up where they left off and make them regret it. I know big idea little implementation
3) You shall rue this day!... Well, go on, start ruing
The thing that irks me the most is they keep telling users to switch OS.
What irks me most is, that they even tell that they STILL support Palm OS but not webOS...
If it's not profitable to support webOS, how is it with Palm OS???
Yea that part makes no sense at all! I think there is more to the story. Epocrates supports every single mobile os except web os.
Hmm, are you suggesting there is some other, possibly sinister, motive for not supporting webOS?
No, not necessarily sinister. But an unsaid process, sinister or otherwise, which has in turn made epocrates dump webos support.
I find it hard to believe the bs that epocrates spews about not able to support the webos.
I'm half-willing to bet that it's a similar reason why we're hearing exactly nothing about a Pre3 on Sprint. Palm (most likely) burned a LOT of bridges...
HP, fire Jon now.
M.
Keep in mind we're hearing exactly nothing about a Pre3 on ANY carrier (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile). So I guess Palm burnt EVERY bridge, right?
Is there going to be a story every week on this?
yes. this along with another story on displays at bestbuy.
We're also going to to a weekly story on your mom.
wow, you should really get the sand out of your ****
the stress of being a bigtime editor at PC getting to you?
Don't hate. That's some good ole-fashioned schoolyard snapping there. Kudos, Derek.
It should've stayed in the schoolyard. "Your mom" jokes are for 10 year olds.
No "sense of humor" apps for WebOS 2.x yet?
I thought derek's reply was funny. But I could see how you take offense to it. And I could see how it is funny too. IT seems to me he's trying to lighten up the situation which is appreciated from my end.
The funniest thing about your mom jokes is the irrational overreaction they always evoke from the target. He says your mom and the target is ready to fight. Just say something like "don't forget to include your no good dad in the article also." Laughter for all...
Hey, Sandy, why are YOU so crabby?
Love it!
This is quite possibly the funniest comment I've ever seen on this site.
Ha, I wouldn't mind that. I'm frothing for any TouchPad news.
Derek, don't act butthurt. You're the man now, rise above it.
It's a pretty damn important topic. Especially for health care users.
I'm not questioning the importance of the story, just this post in particular. There was a post about last week, and one a couple of weeks before I believe. It just seems overkill.
At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if next week we have a headline that reads: "It's been one week since Epocrates expired"
A lot of coverage, I agree. That said, losing Epocrates is a big deal (on the level of Quick Office,Docs to Go, and Adobe Flash if you work in healthcare) and it calls into question the whole notion of HP being able to use their clout to keep apps on the platform, particularly enterprise-class apps, which is a channel they claim to be trying to exploit.
Also, last weeks Epocrates post had a bit of a cliffhanger feel. Today's the day the app stopped working, it was worth noting.
I've purchased a refurbished android handset for about $100, just for the sole purpose of running epocrates...
I plan on using it side by side with my aging sprint pre, until the pre totally breaks. If by that time, there's nothing running webOS on sprint, or epocrates hasn't' changed their minds, I will be forced to fully switch over to android.
Goodbye and good riddance. May it be replaced by a better app that is developed by a company that does not have its head up its own rear.
I can't wait until Epocrates comes sobbing back once the TouchPad gets big.
Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!
o_O I'm not sure that's legal, even for Jesus.
now this is a more level retort.
RIP epocrates and RIP palm.
This looks like the first domino of many that are going to fall on HP. We can make excuses or hold out for hope all we want, but HP failed big time!
Wow how dramatic.
I installed this app and never used it. I never got my physicians id# to use it.
Actually precentral, why dont you post some screenshots for all of us who never even used it. That way i can really dwell on what could have been. lol.
The reason why we have an update is that people around here keep clinging to some kind of hope: "HP is working on it", "Now that the TP is coming they will reconsider", etc. Even now, someone is bound to chime in with something like "Once HP sees the backlash from webOS medical users they will send a SWAT team of crack coders over to knock out a webOS version in three days"
Epocrates announced their decision in the clearest way possible but users around here simply refuse to let it rest. The app hasn't even been updated with new content for months - the whole point of using a connected drug reference is to have up-to-date info.
There's a patch for that.
lol is there a patch for lack of apps. How can I apply it. Is it a gun that I apply directly to the forehead of my palm device?
If you love webos + epocrates, buy an ipod touch.
Wait for Palm Pre 3.
Problem solved.
As Jobs would say, "not a big deal".
;)
There is a chance that HP actually has a REAL enterprise level app up its sleeve for healthcare. I believe that most servers and many PCs in hospitals currently are HP. It would be ideal to have a true enterprise app that can tie directly into the hospital's servers and thus making Touchpads the go to thin client for hospital personnel. This solution would be instead of needing to run back to a computer station at every turn. There are already companies that have a real reach into providing hospital software systems. HP may have landed or is working to land one or two of those giants to create WebOS versions of their apps so one computer terminal can be replaced with many Touchpads for speed and convenience.
You don't understand seem to understand how hospital information systems work nor how a drug reference is created.
As a recent medical school graduate and a webOS fan since the beginning, I can say that this news definitely hurts. I am starting my residency in 5 days and my original Pre (still on sprint) is getting to the point of needing replacement. I can probably hold out for 6 more months, but by that time, I will desperately need a new phone. If Epocrates doesn't come back, I will be forced to look elsewhere for my next phone. I sincerely hope I do not have to do this. The medical community has always been a large sector that Palm could rely on, and I imagine HP was counting on physicians and medical students following along. However, without Epocrates, I can say with confidence that many in the medical community will turn from webOS and go with a company that can ensure that Epocrates (which, despite what some may suggest, is the leading medical drug reference tool on smartphones) is interested in their OS.
I USED to be a big fan of Epocrates, especially as a new, wet behind the ears doc in residency and then in practice.
Now, with 10 years of practice, and trying Epocrates, LexiComp, and Medscape (along with some other Rx apps that aren't worth mentioning) I really don't miss Epocrates. LexiComp has much more thorough information, if the interface is not "as clean". I started using just the Drug and 5MCC databases when Epocrates began announcing their exit. Yesterday I purchased the $215 LexiComp Select package. Better info. Better WebOS support. Better mousetrap. BETTER.
It was nice knowing you Epocrates. Like Thorazine, you were once a useful tool, now becoming a memory when better tools come up....
You'd be better off buying a new iPod Touch with the couple hundred bucks and change and use Epocrates for free - every year. Then you get the bonus of being able to use all the other iOS medical apps besides Epocrates.
..or use eMed for webOS ;)
Works like nothing else. Somebody tell me why Epocrates is a big deal. I'm not in the medical field so somebody give us some insight on how it works and If it really is a big deal. Is this a must have app, or just a case of limited competition. I ask because it seems odd to me that a big developer would shut themselves out from an existing user base and peotentially new customers. Sounds like bad business decision making. Maybe HP should have some kind of developer project that hp could fund to bring an app to the catalog if epocrates doesn't want some webOS.
Epocrates is a useless, clunky piece of junk, anyway.
Someone get at me when Up To Date gets a release on WebOS...then I'll care. Right now, I can access Clinical Pharmacology with my phone, so that's good enough.
You could check out eUTD for webOS for UpToDate too ;)