In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Uri Guttman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >>>>> "bdf" == brian d foy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > bdf> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Uri Guttman ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> A FOSS ban would have an especially negative impact on DoD software > >> development. > > bdf> reference? > > bdf> does FOSS mean Free Open Source Software? > > Free and/or Open Source Software. > > it is the term used in the mitre article as a catchall. yeah, i found the reference in the next article. :) http://www.egovos.org/pdf/dodfoss.pdf this is a good report. the Mitre folks looked at what would happen if DoD banned open source software. they concluded: * costs would immediately spike, then fall a bit but not below previous spending, then monotonically increase * capabilities would immediately fall, and slowly get better although virtually never reaching the original level. * security suffers a "strongly negative effect". they correctly identify diversity as a major factor in this. * not using open source software allows commercial vendors to get lazy. everyone already knows the government contractor stereotype, but i was surprised to see them actually say it. :) in the end, they recommend selective approval for use of open source software. in general, this is a good idea for anything. they mitigate the shock of this this with a recommend list of pre-approved products (including Perl and the other biggies). the approved list does not include Python, strangely, but does include "Perl CGI scripts". i think the list came from what they discovered that people were actually using. they're collection methods were pretty shoddy---just an email survey---so i imagine a lot more open source is in DoD than what they found. since the survey used a self-selected sample, the conclusions are skewed towards open source. i would have liked to hear possible dissenting voices about people who did not choose open source tools, too. don't be afraid of this report. it's 160 pages, but after about page 30 its tables and appendices, including almost all of the open source licenses. :)
