First off, its always about money;)
Secondly, if you think that an undertaking like Linux (or any OS for that matter) would only cost a few hundred dollars, then you are only looking at the cost of procuring the OS itself. While Linux may be freely distributed, coding the Military's very specific pieces of hardware would require a huge undertaking employing numerous engineers many man hours. Then there are the security issues. Not that Linux isn't fairly secure, but DOD marches to the beat of another drum. Most of the stuff is absurd, but none the less it is DOD policy. Once that is all said and done the systems must be tested and certified, agian, not without its price. Then there is the training effort that takes place. There will be a learning curve when you introduce a new OS to the field. So hopefully you can see where a few hundred bucks can and will span into a few million when all is said and done.
With all that said, I am willing to use the tax dollars I donate in pursuing a solid OS that will hopefully give the War fighter, that protects my freedom, the tools that he/she needs to accomplish a very complicated job.
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First off, its always about money ;)
Secondly, if you think that an undertaking like Linux (or any OS for that matter) would only cost a few hundred dollars, then you are only looking at the cost of procuring the OS itself. While Linux may be freely distributed, coding the Military's very specific pieces of hardware would require a huge undertaking employing numerous engineers many man hours. Then there are the security issues. Not that Linux isn't fairly secure, but DOD marches to the beat of another drum. Most of the stuff is absurd, but none the less it is DOD policy. Once that is all said and done the systems must be tested and certified, agian, not without its price. Then there is the training effort that takes place. There will be a learning curve when you introduce a new OS to the field. So hopefully you can see where a few hundred bucks can and will span into a few million when all is said and done.
With all that said, I am willing to use the tax dollars I donate in pursuing a solid OS that will hopefully give the War fighter, that protects my freedom, the tools that he/she needs to accomplish a very complicated job.