DoD Thinks That Open Source Is the Bomb!

The U.S. federal government is not always the zippiest, most progressive organization in the world. With that backdrop, it is impressive to see the push being made to remove barriers to the use of open source software. Makes one proud to be an Amuhrcan! (for those who remember Lyndon B.)

A couple weeks ago the DoD hosted an event to solicit public comment on its acquisition regulations. Specifically, the department was asking, “Hey, is there anything that we are doing that makes it hard for contractors to use open source?” with the idea that if there was, they would consider changing it.  The event drew 40 or 50 people, most of them lawyers and contractors. The discussion was directed to two people from the Office of Defense Acquisition Regulations and three lawyers respectively from the DoD, the Army and the Air Force...