Defense department endorses open-source software
Enterprises looking toward the federal government for technological inspiration got a healthy dose of it recently when the Department of Defense authorized the use of open-source software within its ranks.
DoD chief information officer John Stenbit penned a memo May 28 that authorized the use of open-source software as long as it adheres to the same DoD policies that govern proprietary and government-developed software. Namely, open-source software must comply with National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Policy No. 11, which governs software acquisitions, and it must be configured in accordance with DoD-approved security configuration guidelines.
"This is very significant, because this is the first official federal government statement putting open-source software on a level playing field with proprietary," said Tony Stanco, founding director of the Center of Open Source & Government and associate director of the Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
"This legitimizes [open-source software]. Before, it was kind of like 'don't ask, don't tell.' People weren't asking about it and weren't using it because no one wanted to risk their careers on it," Stanco said. "We expect some of the conservative elements to become more aggressive about open-source."
Stanco pointed to a study by the Mitre Corp., a not-for-profit IT service organization that manages a DoD research and development center, on the use of free and open-source software in the DoD and what would happen if open-source was banned in the department.
