Tech Views

It has been three and a half years since Software Tech News addressed the topic of Open Source Software (OSS). In that time, as Kane McLean writes in his article, “Military Open Source Community Growing”, its use in the Department of Defense (DoD) has grown significantly, widely adopted and implemented in a variety of systems.

While the rate of change in technology grows exponentially, DoD needs to continue to develop new capabilities ever faster. Gone forever are the days of a single contractor developing a system from scratch, uniquely matched to the required application.

The need for commonality across platforms, interoperability between networks and shared functionality across organizations drive reusing what exists rather than reinventing the same basic constructs. Matthew Kennedy discusses the factors one should consider in his article, “Evaluating Open Source Software”.