3 ms·
That is why government agencies should always insist on open source everything. It may seem expensive in the beginning, but it will end up cheaper in the end be
by hristov 16y ago
That is why government agencies should always insist on open source everything. It may seem expensive in the beginning, but it will end up cheaper in the end because you will always have a choice for alternative contractors if you are unhappy with one.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- psadauskas 16y agoAnd we (the citizens) are paying for it, shouldn't we be able to extract as much value from it as we can? (Or better yet, be able to volunteer time to make it better?)
- gvb 16y agoOpen source is the answer to a different question. The article is talking about configuring networks, providing hardware, providing computer management services, etc. The software involved in the services that are being discussed is pretty incidental, the way IBM's use of linux is pretty incidental to what IBM sells. As one of the articles primary examples, the Navy does not have the network diagrams and configuration information for their network. Even if they used open source routers, they currently do not have the information they would need to configure those routers.
- hristov 16y agoWell, I had a more holistic open source agreement in mind. In such an agreement any configuration information should be included with the source code. Also any custom hardware should also be specified and all rights provided as part of the agreement. Regardless of how incidental the software is, if the software and configuration is all open source, then it is always possible for a talented engineer or group thereof to pick up the services where the previous contractor leaves.