Open Source Software In the Military 91
JohnMoD writes With the advent of forge.mil, etc. the military seems to be getting on board with free and open source software. A working group meeting is going to be held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, August 12-13, 2009. There's a pretty good lineup of speakers including a Marine from the Iraq-Marine Expeditionary Forces, who was on the ground and saw the agility open source gave to him and his soldiers. A number of OSS projects are going to be meeting there: Delta 3D, OpenCPI, FalconView, OSSIM, Red Hat, etc. Looks like there will be some good discussions."
Re:I'm in the Military, (Score:5, Informative)
and do I honestly think I'll ever see any of this stuff?
Absolutely not. They have civilian contractors to do all the cool stuff. I'm a network administrator who is denied administrative rights
How many of those civilian contractors are veterans who used to do your job when they were in the military? Just because the government decided to use civilian contractors doesn't mean you don't have a career path, it's just not necessarily one that stays in the military.
Open Source on the Sea (Score:5, Informative)
Having worked for the Royal Dutch Navy for several years as a programmer and software architect, I'm impressed by their use of open source software on board their combat platforms. For instance, the Landing Platform Dock 2, HrMs Johann de Witt, uses GNU/Linux as a main component in the Combat Management System. Other platforms, including their submarines also uses various degrees of open source in combination with older proprietary systems.
Re:WOW (Score:5, Informative)
Now, if the military is controlling the code that is committed to certain projects, that is another story. Then they can see enhanced security from day 1, by ensuring that every patch is thoroughly reviewed -- a much smaller task than trying to re-verify years of review from some other project.
DoD has been using F/OSS for years (Score:5, Informative)
Several years ago there was a series of conferences on F/OSS in government sponsored by George Washington University. There were several presentations made on use of F/OSS by DoD. They included the certification of F/OSS for use in command-control systems, the use of F/OSS in weapons systems, and other applications. Topics addressed included interpretation of terms of the GPL when F/OSS is used in systems for which DoD secrecy requirements apply to the software. (In that case, distribution within DoD and its contractor community is treated as internal to the user and not subject to general disclosure.)
The conferences included numerous presentations about F/OSS is government, including health care and a wide variety of other areas. DoD was just as active as other agencies in using it.
Re:NMCI (Score:2, Informative)
Add to that the fact that AD, Exchange, SharePoint, OCS (among others) are de-facto standards across the DoD, and you can see where that leaves us for desktop machines. Not impossible to integrate alternative OS's, just very difficult; and nearly impossible to reap all those "MS-unique features" from your Windows servers w/out Windows/IE/Outlook/OCS on the other end.
I think it's safe to say that vendor lock-in has been achieved.
Re:I'm in the Military, (Score:2, Informative)
My MOS (job classification) is an E4 and out position. Basically I have no chance of attaining any leadership skills in my job. Big change from when I joined six years ago. I'm seriously considering leaving communications for something that I can actually advance in, even if I wouldn't be as happy in it, but I could be wrong about that.
I'm guessing you're a 25B in a Signal unit.
Trust me, there are a lot of ways you can learn leadership skills as an E-4. How many SOP's have you written? How many Soldiers have trained to replace you? Have you initiated a risk analysis for the information systems you are responsible for? Have you taught your Linux skills to the Soldiers around you? Have you considered making a website for your company (something small, like a company Craigslist phpBB site)? Have you assembled a continuity book? Have you compiled a formal list of recommendations for your SIGO/CDR/PL/whatever to improve mission effectiveness, efficiency, safety, and lower operational expenses? Have you personally met and networked with your BN/BDE S-6 or lower echelon commo PLT's, DOIM/ESB, and surrounding units at the same echelon? Have you offered other units the opportunity to participate in your own unit-level training (even simple stuff, like "how to make a website")? Have you aggressively pursued cross-training opportunities other units may be willing to offer (generator troubleshooting, COMSEC management, SIPRNET regulations, JNN operators, etc)?
I did all of this and then some when I was an E-3/E-4 in Iraq. There is no reason you should bitch and moan that you're not picking up leadership skills. What schools have you gone to (WLC, BNCOC, Ranger)? How many Soldiers do you supervise? Why are you still an E-4 after six years? If you're stuck in an MTOE position outside your MOS, get a Letter of Release from your CSM and find a job somewhere else like JCU [jcuonline.org].
As for getting sysadmin rights...feel free to e-mail me and I'll share all kinds of backdoors I've found in the system. They don't hand the reins over easily so I just take 'em.
Re:Windows for destroyers (no pun intended) (Score:2, Informative)
I won't start a discussion about the choice that the Royal Navy did.
All I can say is that the technical management at CAWCS/Force Vision never saw Microsoft as a viable alternative. At least as long as I was working there.
But sure, we used other operating systems as well. Among those OpenVMS and Solaris 7 and 8. Most of the development was done on Sun/Solaris.
We even had Windows systems for office support, but on a physically isolated network.
Disclaimer:
As a former external consultant I'm not speaking for the Royal Dutch Navy.
Re:Patriot == bigot (Score:3, Informative)
Man, you are working hard convoluting that to get what you want it to mean out.
You are even assigning attributes that aren't always there in order to do it. How proud you must be. Here is a hint, you don't need to be blindly obedient to be patriotic. You don't need to blindly trust or accept anything the country is doing to be patriotic. Only in your imaginary world is that true.