Here’s from a blog:
The U.S. DoD, much like other large organizations, is a user of OSS in almost every part of its software toolchain. From Firefox to access the internet, Kubernetes to orchestrate containers on internal data centers and the public cloud,
Why is DoD using Firefox?curlto make HTTP requests, PyTorch to create and run machine learning models, the examples of OSS in use across the DoD are endless. In addition to being a first-party user of these software and toolchains, the DoD also uses OSS daily as components of third-party software acquired from contractors.
This represents a shift in the US government’s thinking to use open source as a service (and hopefully) pay for it. Numerous big tech companies use open source components in their proprietary services without ploughing back the share due to the developers. It costs significant resources to maintain open source.
However, I still see a lot of usual acrimony on the Linux user groups and the “community”. For example, if Ubuntu changes the packaging manager, there will be a torrent of negativity on their comment portion. I have a soft corner for them, because they were the first distro to ship CD’s across the world. They made genuine efforts to spread open source and encourage its adoption. Arguably, Fedora (or even Suse) are excellent alternatives to Ubuntu, but there are enough reasons to cheer them on. Open source also needs clear advocacy on use and pay scenarios.
Nevertheless, my heart is open source, because it will encourage the younger generation to tinker with the software and bring in incremental improvements. Proprietary software (with subscription) is the worst solution. I have grown old and cynical, and I don’t have patience/time to do distro-hopping. Yet, Linux was a welcome option to break from the Microsoft’s “default” option. I hope more government departments encourage and use (and pay) for open source software.
RadOncNotes 