> Could a part-time programmer like my father write small-business software today? Could he make it as safe and productive as our LAN was? Maybe. If he was cann

> Could a part-time programmer like my father write small-business software today? Could he make it as safe and productive as our LAN was? Maybe. If he was canny, and stuck to old-fashioned desktops of the 90s and physically isolated the machines from the internet. But there is no chance you could get the records onto a modern phone safely (or even legally under HIPAA) with the hours my father gave the project. Their father’s software likely was not HIPAA compliant or safe, just isolated. They speak earlier in the post about it being a permission-less file based database any computer could access, including his personal one. And that any innocuous command could potentially bring the whole thing down. Certainly looking back with rose colored glasses to the situation. It probably did work great for his father’s needs but “safe and compliant with modern medical data protection laws” is was not. I do think that a simpler approach to small business software like this example is not a bad goal. This was a great read. Thank you for sharing.