>>fluidc+(OP)
I agree with you on all of this (and like the fact that GE uses linux as a base, and not, as Siemens and Philips do, Windows + cygwin + a separate box either running linux or vxWorks). I guess my point was I think it's interesting that GE's main competitors in the MRI space are...well, Siemens and Philips, both of whom independently have their historical origins in power engineering (and make gas turbines!). Both have been going for a long, long time from the early days of MRI. And if you look at CT as another example – well, that came out of BASF, another engineering conglomerate. Ultrasound, first proposed for medical use by the physicist Paul Langevin, found practical application much later, again under similar conditions.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's almost as if the combination of supporting physics and engineering without particular attention to the ultimate "core competency" or "end market segment" lets creative, interdisciplinary ideas like this flourish.