Linux and other open source software has been widely used by government technologists for years in an unsanctioned way, but a recent Department of Defense memo officially puts open source software on the “approved” list. Government research contractor MITRE recently published a study that found that OSS was in wide use in the government, and warned that if it were to be forbidden, the costs and security fallout would be considerable. See this Forbes.com story for more.
If Windows is approved, this doesn’t mean much. Linux may not be as good as Mac, but they do good with servers, although not as good as BSD.
What’s your point, exactly? Apart from bashing Linux, of course…(see your comment in another thread about the Lycoris amateur ads being so bad “they must have been made with Linux”)
This announcement is quite significative, as it gives OSS (notice that they didn’t specifically mention Linux, but rather OSS “at large”) a legitimacy that is currently being challenged by MS and its slimy, grotesque underling (also known as SCO).
This is good news for Linux and OSS. Is that what’s bothering you?
It means a lot. Not from a “this gives linux credibility” point of view but “now we have a lot more users.” As the article points out there are hundreds of projects in the US government already using open source. But this gives official permission to those in the DOD to use it without hiding the fact. No longer does Windows get preferential treatment within the DOD. Plus, being the first agency to permit its use, it’ll be easier for other agencies to give similar approval.
Uh, I know this is completely off-topic and I apologize, but I just got home and am wonder what’s going on with the Apple Keynote. It supposedly started at 10:00 a.m., but is that EST or PST? I looked on TechTV, but it’s not on there. Did they chose not to show it? That just sounds ridiculous. Is there anywhere where I can get any news on it? What has Jobs revealed yet? Anywhere that I can watch the broadcast?
Forbes is for business people and they’re just trying to get the message to Joe Business that Open Source ain’t going anywhere but up.
go to http://macteens.com/index.html for a “relitivily” lite site today most are so packed that you cannot stand the refresh speed.
you can also see <a href=”http://www.macintouch.com“>macintouch.com
When I worked as an engineer for the DoD, Windows, especially in the R&D community, was just another player. I would dare say even a minor player. UNIX and its variants were always preferred because we needed extremely large-scale, highly secure systems with an emphasis on global connectivity in the field. It always helped to ere on the side of caution and reject the ubiquitous as well. In addition, most of the research-level employees, especially the chiefs, grew up on UNIX. It was their baby as much as the creators’. Formidable allies spawn formidable allies. Remember that many commercial and consumer items, whatever forms they might take, started out as government, or government funded, projects.
Things change, and I’m sure Windows plays a much more prominent role now. I believe that UNIX remains the apex predator, though, and Linux, BSD, etcetera play critical roles in the current state of UNIX as we know it.
You may be asking yourself, “Okay, but what does this have to do with anything?” National security is an extremely valuable asset. All agencies, regardless of their missions, are political by nature in the end. Don’t fall victim to naivity and believe otherwise. An agency entrenched in research, especially mission-critical research, under an operating system, product, etcetera that faces scrutiny from outside sources can unleash unfathomable wrath from governments both foreign and domestic given the proper circumstances. I think *NIX has a bright future, whatever its mutations.
we should ban all GNU software from the US government and here’s why.
The United States is capitalist, there’s no question about that. And I believe that if these capitalists want to prove to the world that capitalism is the best and only form of economic model for society then they should be forced to make it work without using OSS software. They should be forced to pay for every piece of code they run. And let it be closed source, for all I care. The consquences of that action, I believe, might be enough to tip the scales on the economy and perhaps send us into a recession.
We get a lot of value from computers running free software. Computer hardware is cheaper than it has ever been and faster than it has ever been. This seems like the most efficient economic solution one can think of, if that one does not work for Microsoft. But I like Microsoft. I like big corporations owning TV channels and helping us pay for our schools. I like being told what to do. And I love spending money. So by all means, please, make it illegal to use GNU software in the government. I dare ya.
See, I pay a lot in taxes, but nothing is going to change that. If that money goes to Microsoft I think its better than that money going to our schools or our military. Microsoft is communism’s best defense against capitalism, the monopoly. And I think they should provide software for all the government’s needs. Specially security. LOL
I’ve worked with govenment agencies in various ways and at different jobs and there was always one common thread. Do everything possible to get on the government approved list because it IS a big deal.
Well, after reading your post, it’s pretty much safe to say you didn’t 🙂
Before you start Linux bashing, Ben Huot, you may wish to re-read the article. Linux gains a good deal of spotlight these days, but it’s NOT the only open source operating system that the government agencies use. The article doesn’t even imply that. What it IS saying that ALL open source softwares are now welcome officially in the DOD. NASA has been using open source long before it was “kewl” to do so. This includes all of the open source BSDs, Linux, and probably even lesser known ones like Plan 9. The DOD has been using internally built versions of Linux for it’s flight simulators for a while now. Open Source means open ended security probes not only from internal audits, but from users around the globe. Should a certain open source project lose steam, internal programmers can take over and continue support and updates.
This applies to ALL open source initiatives, not just the Linux you seem to hate. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Linux, Plan 9, AtheOS, and a slew of others plus the millions of open source application projects all benefit from this now official position in the DOD.
BTW, the DOD has been a behind-the-scenes open source advocate for years now. They released a completely functional RTOS a few years back to help potential workers and contractees design software for Defense Department purposes. If you are interested, look up “RTEMS”. It has an impressive number of platform ports including, but not limited to: ia32, m68k, arm32, and PPC (iirc).
I work as a Government contractor on a large U. S. Navy contract and it is not as simple as a memo saying “deploy Linux”. Although I haven’t read the recent memo, I have read the MITRE document and other documentation concerning Open Source in DoD. Any software has to meet security requirements and has to be examined by DISA, the NSA, or local authority (if capable).
If the software (including Linux) is to be used in a classified environment, then it has to pass Common Criteria (minimally EAL4) to comply with “C2” requirements. This is where Open Source usually stops, because “IA hasn’t approved it” you can’t use it. This is why we cannot deploy Nagios as a temporary fix until we can get the hardware to deploy Tivoli. You have a lot of Government managers out there trying to “cover their ass” and won’t be the first to push anything unless there is a mountain of documentation approving it. So don’t throw a party yet, it will be years before you hear about routine deployments of Linux within DoD.
So maybe they’ll stop being Microsoft’s hoe?
Actually, despite the official line, the U.S. is not such a capitalist state. In reality, the U.S. government is quite an interventionist (and protectionist) economical power, through the Pentagon and other such public institutions. It is well-known that the United States’ foremost industries (hi-tech, pharmaceuticals and agriculture) are all (or have been) heavily subsidized. Who do you think paid for the first computers, the early Internet, and so forth? Taxpayers. In fact, if it wasn’t for good old-fashioned interventionism, the U.S. most probably wouldn’t be the world’s current economic superpower.
All western democracies nations are mixed economies, mixing bits and pieces of Mill and Marx, Friedman and Keynes. You’ll only find true Capitalist economies among some of the U.S. client states. You’ll notice that these are invariably disaster areas in the political, economical and social sense.
People like you are why we run budget deficits in the BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS of dollars. Government should not be made to be a consumer of goods ! That is what the general public is for. Government needs to be maintained light and small at all cost ! Why you ask ? Well because the money that they spend is not THEIR MONEY !
It is the tax payer dollars money and they deserve to have it spend wisely and not thrown away to artificially inflate and maintain any business ! That is NOT capitalism that is socialism at it’s finest ! A business should not and must not be dependent on government hand outs because just like social welfare, corporate welfare brings with it the same problems of laziness and inept thinking which is paid for a tax payer expense !
No my friend you need to stop thinking for now until you can learn that the money spent by the government is NOT theirs to spend un-wisely ! Do yourself a favor and go read a book by the name of Wealth of Nations written by a guy named Adam Smith.
I think sarcasm is lost on so many here…..
If the government begins using Linux and contributing code, I think that’s fantastic–especially for security. While it’s good that some government users may provide feedback to the creators of some software, I’m hoping they also contribute code to whatever OSS they use when they tailor it for their needs—-I would love to see some other Linux project management software (other than Kompany’s.)
Also, while Linux has been proven to many people, it would certainly help remove some FUD that Microsoft Salesmen spread.
One place where linux SHOULD be the only game in town is in cash strapped schools–My state, NJ has been axing administrators & teachers and programs left and right. Perhaps if they had personel trained in using FREE software, they wouldn’t have to deal with “revolving door” licensing fees. Hopefully if the Federal Government begins using linux, it would force state, county & municipal people to atleast know OSS exists & maybe switch over to save some money (and LOWER my taxes while you’re at it!)
that OSS is accepted by many goverments and gvt run institutions around the world despite MicroSco’s attempt to kill it.
Freedom of choise is what makes a healthy economy and not monopolies – All you OSS bashers: Be grateful to this movement. All it does is creating competition which leads to a better and cheaper Windows …..
All I have to do is watch and see…
The USA is perhaps the MOST socialist and economically interventionist economy in the world. The steel and agriculture industries are massively unprofitable and hugely subsidised. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries use publicly funded research as the basis of commercial drugs (very like the GNU licence in fact). The military-industrial complex is perhaps the biggest employer. The US is currently a corporatist state which is as far from 19th Century laissez-faire capitalism as is imaginable.