Slashdot Mirror
World Govs Choose Linux For Security & More
pjones writes "Government Technology reports that "For reasons of national security and national pride, government officials in countries like China, France and Germany are increasingly adopting the free, open-source computer operating system known as Linux." Noted in the article are China's Red Flag, NSA's Security-Enhanced Linux and much more."
It's common sense for governments to use Open Source, otherwise they are just having to trust the USA, why should they? It would be easy for the US' corrupt government who put Bush in power even though Gore won to bribe Micro$oft. All M$ have to do is not distribute particular modules to the educational source distributions they make. Then again, there was something on /. a while ago about infected compilers making programs which were up to tricks, we would never know without a disassembly and the source code would look perfectly fine. - DDRP
YOU FUCKING PINKO!! I didn't watch my buddies die in the frozen mud of Korea just so you could get free copies of an obviously COMMUNIST operating system. You sir, are WORSE THAN HITLER, and IF I EVER MEET YOU, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!!
- i have sex with retarded kids
Everyone with more than two brain cells to rub together knows that Linux is just as prone to exploits as M$ft Windows, if not more so. It's just that script kiddies haven't been devoting as much attention to cracking the boxen. If Linux proliferates more, and especially as Linux gets used in high-security government purposes, the "A Patchy" servers will really start earning their names, as sysadmins start putting in serious overtime trying to keep up with the bombardment of worms, virii, Ddos attax, etc...
Oh, and if anyone can dig up a link to Red Flag Linux... I definately want a copy
Ironic, isn't it, that Open Source is being used to support the activities of governments that are resolutely anti-freedom. I don't expect we'll ever know if the Chinese government respect the GPL... or if they use Linux to monitor the email of dissidents or hold databases of citizens who stray from Maoist thought.
But hey, to the average Slashbot, torturing political prisoners in concentration camps is preferable to Microsoft, whose only crime is that given the choice, some people like to buy their stuff.