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MITRE Corp. Report On Open Source In Government

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the who's-using-what-where-why dept.

Jeremy Allison (of the Samba team) writes "Very interesting paper just published by MITRE corporation. (In PDF - they've learned not to use Microsoft Word. :-). Highlights: 'The main conclusion of the article was that FOSS software plays a more critical role in the DoD than has generally been recognised.'; 'Create a "Generally Recognised as Safe" FOSS list ... including Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Samba, Apache, Perl, GCC, GNAT, XFree86, OpenSSH, bind, and sendmail.' 'FOSS' stands for 'Free and Open-Source Software.' Looks like these people 'get it.'"

4 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Rock on. by Sivar · · Score: 4, Funny

    You may not want to work for the government in anything technical. Sure, you may get to play with some neat toys, but after seeing so many Sun Enterprise systems used as office mail servers -- sitting alongside NT database servers equipped with 64MB RAM, one tends to go insane. :)

    --
    Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
  2. Wait...another term? by Rhinobird · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't anybody gonna mention that RMS is going to say that FOSS should really be reffered to as Dental/FOSS?

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  3. A funny bit by Vireo · · Score: 5, Funny

    In page 22:

    [i]Ironically, a thoroughly rigorous and systematic ban on DoD use of FOSS could also affect a number of proprietary product that rely on FOSS products that permit incorporation of FOSS into their closed-source products. For example, Microsoft Office uses the FOSS zlib collection of data compression software, and thus could technically be banned as a product that incorporates FOSS software.[/i]

  4. Re:What the DoD is and isn't by Black+Copter+Control · · Score: 4, Funny
    Especially under NMCI(Navy Marine Corps Intranet), Linux is not even listed as an approved legacy system, much less something EDS will agree to support.

    I guess this means that if I want to mount a pirate attack on the DOD, I should make the Marines my beachhead?

    Sir! The enemy is sighted, and they are using ISS!
    Arrgh! Prepare to board them, and take no prisoners!
    --
    OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.