U.S. Navy OKs Open Source Software

[praka123]

Posted 06/13/07 18:22
U.S. Navy OKs Open Source Software

By BRAD PENISTON

Firefox users, rejoice! The chief information officer (CIO) for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps has decided that the services may use open-source software (OSS), treating it just like commercial-off-the-shelf software.


Open-source software allows anyone to inspect — and in many cases, to alter — its programming code, and then to pass it along, often free of charge, under intellectual-property licenses that are generally much less restrictive than those that govern commercial software.


Advocates point to Firefox, an open-source Web browser that is more secure than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, yet also more flexible and respectful of Web standards. And they cite Linux, a powerful operating system that can replace Microsoft Windows on many PCs.


In a June 5 memo, Navy CIO Robert Carey says regulations that forbade the use of open-source software have largely prevented the services from benefiting from it.


“The misconception that OSS is neither a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) nor government off-the-shelf (GOTS) solution has hindered the DoN’s [Department of the Navy’s] ability to leverage the benefits of OSS methodology. Because of this misconception, OSS has not received equal consideration during the software acquisition process,” Carey wrote.


Henceforth, IT buyers and planners will be able to consider open-source software when making acquisition decisions.


“This will allow the DoN to utilize OSS throughout the enterprise when acquiring capabilities to meet DON business and warfighter requirements,” he wrote.


This move also will help the Navy meet DoD goals for exchanging information via standards, he wrote.

source:
http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=2831160&C=america

[gary4gar]

Great news!
hope Our own country follows it since taking in mind lack of funds are armed forces are facing

[praka123]

Did our army heard about FOSS or Linux? I doubt

[iMav]

ya well its potentially dangerous for any army to go open source ... it can be messed around quiet easily if the person knows how to ... and the bad guys know computers as good as any 1 else out there

[praka123]

^^that is FUD.
Open SOurce codes are better and faster bug fixing coz of the no of people who are watching and reporting.US army is not an idiot
they studied OSS model and hence adopting.

yeah,day by day FOSS and Linux share are increasing and some closed people cant digest that I know.
LAMP lights the way in open-source security

The most popular open-source software is also the most free of bugs, according to the first results of a U.S. government-sponsored effort to help make such software as secure as possible.