http://lwn.net/Articles/14115/ This is a special feed containing comments posted to the individual LWN article titled "Study: free software in the U.S. Department of Defense". hourly 2 http://lwn.net/Articles/14928/rss 2002-11-07T16:05:56+00:00 whitleych The results do not surprise me. Budgets are always tight for the military (at least at the local level). As for wondering if you want your software being used by the military, did you also ask yourself if you wished to use software improved by the military? Usually the path is in both directions. ARPA is a prime example..... I admit that it is a valid question however and one that only you can answer for yourself. <p>But try to remember things like the BSD license which precluded the use by South African police, circumstances change. Bad guys today may not be tomorrow. Some corporations may do more to damage the general population with less restriction than the U.S. military (environmental issues, unfair labor practices, etc). This is not indicating that the military is great, just that &quot;any&quot; large organization can have it's abuses and/or negative impact.<br>Regards<br>Cecil http://lwn.net/Articles/14331/rss 2002-10-31T18:30:40+00:00 gleef <p>Gady asks:<br> <i> It would be really nice if articles which refer to not very generally known stuff would have links. I don't think a link to FreeBSD is really necessary... but one to the mentioned security packages (SARA and something) or maybe even to the Microsoft EULA mentioned, it on the web.</i> <p>None were particularly hard to find, and its not as if Mitre was producing a webpage, it's a report to the DoD. Regardless, here they all are:<ul><li>SARA is the Security Auditor's Research Assistant, and can be found at <a href="http://www-arc.com/sara/">http://www-arc.com/sara/</a></li> <li>"something" would be Snort, the other security package mentioned, which can be found at <a href="http://www.snort.org/">http://www.snort.org/</a></li> <li>The Microsoft EULA mentioned would be the Mobile Internet Toolkit EULA, which can be found crammed into an annoying box at <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/Downloads/eula_mit.htm">http://msdn.microsoft.com/Downloads/eula_mit.htm</a></li> </ul> </p> <p>Enjoy!</p> http://lwn.net/Articles/14327/rss 2002-10-31T18:03:01+00:00 rfunk &gt; Do you believe in militant force when you and your family are being held<br>&gt; hostage in a theatre in Moscow? Should the Moscow police be allowed to use<br>&gt; your software?<p>Not if they're going to gas me to death when they try to save me.... http://lwn.net/Articles/14256/rss 2002-10-31T12:27:33+00:00 brugolsky A library full of licenses, all incompatible ...<p>Inevitably, one person thinks that nuclear power is abominable, and another thinks that it is the only way to prevent pollution.<p>One person thinks that the police of a particular state repress freedom; another thinks that they maintain order.<p>All that such licenses can do is dilute all efforts.<p>Face it, all technology can be used for good or ill, and there is a vast gray area which is neither or both.<p>Do you believe in militant force when you and your family are being held hostage in a theatre in Moscow? Should the Moscow police be allowed to use your software?<br> http://lwn.net/Articles/14250/rss 2002-10-31T11:29:44+00:00 slat now heres a problem for me. As i don't belive in militant force as means to solve conflicts, and i try to work as hard as i can for openness and for peacefull, long lasting solutions to conflicts and conflicts to be. I still might end up with the military using my contributions to kill, or training to kill.<br>I work against a military intervention in Iraq, still, my contributions in GPL might end up helping the military carry through the assault. Now, this is mostly theoretically, I don't think they see much use in what i have done, still.. its disturbing.<br>As there are ethical funds, where the fund promises not to invest in companies that help produce arms (ericsson, saab, general electronics) maybe there should be an ethical gpl license alternative.. of cource, i have only to write it myself.<br>Argh, this is mostly distrubing anyway, i belive in the gpl as it is today, and i belive in non-violence. And I would be happier if ceratin scroupless companies wern't allowed to use the code. http://lwn.net/Articles/14237/rss 2002-10-31T06:43:18+00:00 Gady It would be really nice if articles which refer to not very generally known stuff would have links. I don't think a link to FreeBSD is really necessary... but one to the mentioned security packages (SARA and something) or maybe even to the Microsoft EULA mentioned, it on the web.<p>Thanks.<p>Gady http://lwn.net/Articles/14161/rss 2002-10-30T21:39:40+00:00 stonedown It sounds like there is more support for free and open source software in military circles than many have previously thought. I believe a lot of military people are &quot;geeks&quot;, meaning they take pride in using powerful, effective, elegant, and reliable tools to get the job done. <p>Those tools may be a control system to hold the M-1 tank turret steady while closing with the enemy at high speed; they may be a trustworthy and reliable hand weapon; or they may be computer software which runs on their existing hardware and outperforms expensive commercial alternatives.<p>Perhaps military service members are quicker to adopt new tools and methods than is the conventional wisdom.