Using Ipads in a Windows environment

[Techie]

My client wishes to purchase 2 Ipads for her clinic, to help with daily medical routines and filling in her billing data on a patient basis.
The Medical billing software she utilities is based online and does not support any web browser other than IE.
Does anyone know if the Mac based software called Parallel (virtual box) would suffice for this?

Thx - Techie

 

[Martyn]

I have parallels on my Mac and obviously Windows works fine but I'm nut sure if you can install on an Ipad. I could not see anything on the Parallel site.

 

[vdub12]

You can spoof the user agent.

The device will need to be jailbroken of course.
Heres some info

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/28/how-to-emulate-iphone-change-user-agent-in-safari-and-firefox-web-browser/

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/iphone-user-agent/

 

[mkeathley]

Something to remember is that a iPad is pretty much a iPhone, not a tablet iMac...
Thus it doesn't run normal Mac OS X and can't run Mac OS X programs.

Jail breaking woudl void the warrenty, and owudl only take a update to take her clinic down.

You shoudl check out Fujitsu's tablets. Quite a few medical office's use them now a days.

 

[vdub12]

Something to remember is that a iPad is pretty much a iPhone, not a tablet iMac...
Thus it doesn't run normal Mac OS X and can't run Mac OS X programs.

Jail breaking woudl void the warrenty, and owudl only take a update to take her clinic down.

You shoudl check out Fujitsu's tablets. Quite a few medical office's use them now a days.

Jailbreaking will not void the warranty. You just restore the OS if it needs to be sent in.

You will need to make sure people don't update them though. That will mess up the jailbreak.

 

[14049752]

Jailbreaking will not void the warranty. You just restore the OS if it needs to be sent in.
You will need to make sure people don't update them though. That will mess up the jailbreak.

Doesn't really matter, anyway. If it requires IE, it probably doesn't matter if the user-agent is spoofed. It probably requires Active-X or some IE nonsense.
An iPad will almost certainly not work.

Agreed with the above poster, look into a functional Windows based tablet instead of the shiny "must-have" gadget from Apple.

 

[Techie]

Thanks all,

I already advised them against going with the Ipads, hopefully they will see the light, otherwise I'll be a busy camper

Techie

 

[vdub12]

Check out this guy.

If it ever becomes a reality it would be a killer tablet.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/199363/toshibas_innovative_twoscreen_libretto_tablet_what_you_need_to_know.html

 

[ProTech-MN]

There is the Citrix Receiver or GoToMeeting for iPad... let's you run just about any Windows application on an iPad - might be an option for them.

-Randy

 

[Rodrick]

Also various rdp and vnc clients but i wouldn't suggest using those in a clinic environment ...

 

[iptech]

Jailbreaking will not void the warranty. You just restore the OS if it needs to be sent in.

Hard to do if the thing is busted and won't boot.

 

[angry_geek]

I specialize in medical offices and write HIPAA security policies. The ipad does not support the encryption necessary to be HIPAA compliant, and, as of yet, there is not a decent vpn for the ipad. Therefore, it's moot. If she wants a tablet product, lean her toward the Asus netbook tablet or something similar.

 

[ProTech-MN]

I specialize in medical offices and write HIPAA security policies. The ipad does not support the encryption necessary to be HIPAA compliant, and, as of yet, there is not a decent vpn for the ipad. Therefore, it's moot. If she wants a tablet product, lean her toward the Asus netbook tablet or something similar.

I've worked with HIPAA in the past, but am no expert... wouldn't using a virtualized application through a product like the Citrix Receiver for iPad conform to HIPAA requirements seeing as how the data itself resides on a server, not the iPad itself? Isn't this how many of the hospitals, etc. are delivering applications today to thin clients via applications such as Citrix XenApp and Citrix XenDesktop. I know the iPad has VPN capabilities, but to what extent, I do not know - is this where the deficiency lies?

-Randy

 

[angry_geek]

The problem lies in the network encryption. It is prone to man in the middle attacks, as well as not encrypting it's data transmission. I would never use the ipad on a public network just for this issue. The citrix receiver would work alright, but still wouldn't fix the underlying security issues on the device itself. Due to the software (web app) requiring encryption and a security certificate, the only to use the ipad, and be in compliance, would be to run virtualization from a server or some kind of rdp. This completely defeats the purpose of using a web-based app. Instead of just the $500 for the ipad, you will also have to have a server of some sort, as well as licensing for software to overcome the security issues. It's better to go with a tablet pc and be done with it. Whether it be a netbook tablet or a 13" fujitsu.

 

[Xander]

Originally Posted by vdub12
Jailbreaking will not void the warranty. You just restore the OS if it needs to be sent in.

Hard to do if the thing is busted and won't boot.

I've not JB'd an ipad but between about 10 Touches and iPhones (myself, friends, and a few customers), I've not seen an instance yet where you can't restore it back to factory specs.