Federal Agencies Embracing Use Of Open Source Software Code

Federal agencies that previously relied on expensive, built-to-order software are now following a growing trend to embrace open source code.

“Every company in the top 100 government providers uses open source in their products: all of them,” said Scott Montgomery, McAfee [MFE] chief technology officer for the public sector.

...As one of the first open source adopters, DoD released a memo in 2009 encouraging open source projects. Following the memo, the Army created its “Apps for the Army” program to solicit applications from developers and speed up the service’s software acquisition process. The Army’s Chief Information Officer said the challenge produced 53 usable apps in 75 days.