OK, so our company's software IS what you define as COTS. It's in production use by a number of commercial entities such as BP, Deuchebank, General Motors, Wells Fargo, etc. By your definition we shouldn't have any trouble with the feds about offshore development. That being said, the vast majority of accounts require some customization to fit the customers' needs (similar to the way most databases require customization for customers' use: creating tables, developing procedure code, etc.) This is all done within the product's development environment (none of the core source code is touched) and all customization work is done by cleared personel.

Our software does data integration. While the software itself manages sensitive information, there's no sensitive information in the source code. I fail to see how letting foreign nationals develop open source software is somehow more secure than letting them develop ours. I don't believe the concern is letting DoD employees contribute to open source. I believe the concern is allowing foreign nationals to insert malicious code into software that is used at the DoD.

So if the DoD is the leading user of open source software by the feds, how come, as a supplier of software to the DoD none of my company's development can be done overseas?

So easy, a CAVE man could do it. Oh, wait, what?

Surprised they didn't call it "kewler".

Actually, a LOT of people I know who have iPhones have this same complaint. Don't get me wrong, I love the iPhone and the lack of these features was not enough to prevent me from getting one. It's just that it would have made the product that much better to have it.

Oh, I beg to differ on this one. I would KILL to be able to replace my battery in my iPhone or plug in a memory stick (and save email attachments to it.)

"'We can't tell nature to ignore quantum mechanics, so we might need to measure it and see what happens,' says Graham Fleming" Does this mean that Schrodinger's cat will be involved in the testing somehow?

Well, you could reduce the buttwidth to increase the utilization. I think you'll find, though, that simultaneous pot sharing is going to be a non-starter for your user community. To say nothing of dealing with backup issues.

OK, First off ... How could you NOT NOTICE an octopus, no matter how small, on your SCUBA tank after taking all your gear apart? Second ... What the heck were you doing with your tank at a gas stop?