Defense Dept. Memo Explains Open Source Policy

TonyStanco writes "Big news. DoD issued a policy statement leveling the playing field for Open Source. We have the memo on the Center of Open Source & Government site." The requirements listed in this memo make me think of a company policy along the lines of "You can bring your baby or toddler to work, so long as it can talk, feed itself and stick effortlessly to the ceiling like a spider." See this PDF for more information about National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Policy (NSTISSP) number 11.

Comments

Justification....

[mao che minh]

Well, the possible use of any commodity that may be used by the government (especially by the military) is always pitched in a structured and lengthy write-up that examines all aspects of the commodity and it's probable uses.

Oh wait, everything but the use of Microsoft products that is. It seems like that gets instant approval without the need for any justification. "Microsoft released Windows XP? OK, upgrade, forget about the costs and everything else that such an upgrade demands - just do it - across the board. Office XP you say? OK, allocate $10,000,000 for the software, we'll worry about paying for the licenses later."

Everyone knows that the benefits of using open source products far exceeds any benefits that can be reaped by paying a whole bunch of money for closed source products and their associated licenses (which are arguably always more extensive and restrictive then open source license schemes). Sure, paying $50,000,000 to upgrade your old NT servers to 2000 and your 98 desktops to either Windows 2000 or XP has it's benefits over spending $30,000,000 on Redhat and Star Office and the training. A bunch of sales people always say that such a move (upgrading Windows servers and clients and Office) has it's benefits. I just don't seem to see them. Maybe I'm too progressive, I don't know.

PS: didn't get it...this time

Re:Gawd. If code were written that way . . .

[sould]

Gawd!

It aint that hard.

Basically:

1) It defines OSS & GPL

2) Says they're OK to use provided:
a) They comply with the same Dod policies for equivilant Off the Shelf software
b) They're comply with the requirements defined by the National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Secuirty policy.
c) They're configured as per DoD approved security configurations from http://iase.disa.mil and http://www.nsa.gov.
d) You dont break any licenses.

Thats all!

Re:Not the same memo

[fanatic]

The dipshit that posted the article linked the wrong doc. Here is the right one: http://www.egovos.org/pdf/OSSinDoD.pdf