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Linux Secure Enough For The Army
LordPixie writes " As summarized over at Defense Tech, the U.S. Army is soon to be infected with the infamous OSS virus. They have chosen Linux as the operating system for the abysmally named 'System of Systems Common Operating Environment,' a part of Army's planned Future Combat Systems."
...and he's currently playing tuxracer in his eyepiece.
The term "system of systems" refers to the fact that FCS is meant to allow the army to be able to reconfigure things easily and rapidly to allow the technology to be used for a wide range of missions. Yeah, it sounds a bit strange if you're not used to the terminology but they do pick these phrases, acronyms, and words for a reason. You can read more about FCS here. Basically, the idea is to use a collection of smaller, more manueverable vehicles (including tanks, guns, as well as unmanned ground and aerial vehicles) to accomplish a wide array of military missions. FCS will lack the heavy armor (e.g., 70 ton tanks) that we currently have which could make the force more susceptible to destruction. The advantage of using a lighter force, however, is that it doesn't take them so long to set up, they can move pretty quickly, and don't require as much support equipment and supplies (e.g., fuel). The army plans to make the lighter FCS unit survivable through a lot of fancy communication and data-sharing technologies. So the fact that they have decided to choose Linux is reasonably signficant. FCS will rely very heavily on the quality of their software.
GMD
watch this
SgtJenkins@military.mil$ drop bomb
-bash: drop: command not found
SgtJenkins@military.mil$ make bomb
make: *** No rule to make target `bomb'. Stop.
SgtJenkins@military.mil$ kill terrorists
-bash: kill: terrorists: no such pid
SgtJenkins@military.mil$ man i want windows back
No manual entry for i
No manual entry for want
No manual entry for windows
No manual entry for back
One of the entire reasons OSS is such a great thing is that becuase its OpenSourced, if can be adapted for use in ways that the original coder never though of. And dispite the fact that most soldiers have a hard time with an excel function, the fact that they might have acess to the source could allow for in theater modifications. Adaptability is a great thing.
Of course, this includes ways the orignial coder might object to, but I'm sure they'll get over it. If your going to bitch about your software being used by the Department of Defense, remind me to not lift a finger when your getting your ass beat in some back alley. If your willing to help everyone but me, at no cost to you, why should I lift a finger to help you? Doesn't that fly in the face of OpenSource? I do give this to you in the HOPE that you might do something that might help me?
--Cam
All jocks think about is sports. All nerds think about is sex.
Yes, abolish all armies and then there will be peace in the world.
*eye roll*
Grow up.
Do you also have a problem using TCP/IP because it was a DARPAnet project to begin with? Hate to say it- but giving free resources to the mis-named Defense Department means that the government as a whole will have more money for social sercives, healthcare, and education- some smart congresscritter is sure to notice that FOSS licencing is cheaper than CS licensing and cut it from the budget.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
I'm still using Slackwar, you insentitive clod!