Category Archives: big-news

Free and Open-Source Software in the DOD

This report commissioned by the department of defense is getting quite a bit of coverage because it says that 115 Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) programs as opposed to freeware and proprietary software are already being used in the defense department and “The main conclusion of the analysis was that FOSS software plays a more critical role in the DoD than has generally been recognized…”More often than not, the strongest deciding factors for choosing FOSS products were capability and reliability, with cost being an important but secondary factor…” and that more should be used. What do they know that medicine doesn’t? Perhaps that mega-buck proprietary software is not the way to go. There’s a short executive summary at the beginning that is quite readable with lots of good links.