Don’t Just Use It
Build It!
Building Open Source Software in the DoD
Or
A rapid dose of wishful thinking

DoD is coming to grips
with Open Source
Software.
Today...

It’s like COTS, It Even
Comes in a Box

Photo creative commons licensed from http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=432710571&size=l
Yawn

But, imagine this...

Welcome to www.SOSCOE.org
Project
Documentation
SOSCOE is the glue that holds FCS together...
Source
Wiki
Distributed
Peer to Peer
Get Started!
Open
Get SOSCOE
Join
Buy a Tee shirt!
... and is an open source project funded by the U.S. Army
to develop a next generation real time distributed platform.
You are free to use, modify, and distribute SOSCOE.
Don’t worry, we aren’t sharing the super secret squirrel stuff.

Or...
www.open-cjmtk.org
www.falconview.org
www.webcop.org
www.open-disa.org/necc

You mean “corporate
source” right?
Right??

Q: Assuming a Normal distribution, how
many developers must have the
opportunity to self select for your project
in order to have a 90% confidence that at
least 1% of the actual participants will be
5 σ above the mean? You know, the crazy
smart ones.
The ones you
want

A: More open is better

Community Process:
Gate the commit
not the source
Linus
“the dictator”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/134671996/

So, you mean
something like
“SHARE” right?

A Brief Aside:
Three ways (that I can think
of) to make source funded
by government “open”* in
the DoD
* No attempt here to conform to OSF definition

• Government asserts rights (unlimited,
or gov purpose) and shares the code
• Government Owned (they wrote it)
and released via PAO
• Contractor copyright released to
open source community

“SHARE” is this
one
• Government asserts rights
(unlimited, or gov purpose) and
shares the code
• Government Owned (they wrote it)
and released via PAO
• Contractor copyright released to
open source community

But, if you’re a
contractor you don’t
have to wait for your
customer to make you
SHARE.

You’re customer is sick
of the Proprietary Lock In
Model (and doesn’t it make
you feel kind of crappy too?).
Maybe there is a Tipping Point?

If you are Proprietary
standing Lock In
here...
... go ahead
and
push!

• Government asserts rights
(unlimited, or gov purpose) and
shares the code
• Government Owned (they wrote it)
and released via PAO
• Contractor copyright released to
open source community
So, do this one

Huh, Why?

Delight your customer

To do more with less!

Hire, retain, and excite great
developers.

Obtain Great
Karma
Get free
beer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pete4ducks/1364334188/

We decided to try it

What we got:
• A seat at the standards table
• Energized developers who are contributing
and are known
• A broad community to critique and help fix
our stuff
• Sun testing and marketing our stuff
• Visibility for our brand
• An intentionally commoditized, easy to
adopt stack

rVooz.org

A few quick questions:

Q: Do you think the
“open source
community” owes you
process compliance
(and ear tags)?

Q: Have you ever
attended an OSCON?
BarCamp? Heck, even a
Gartner open source
conference?

Q: Do you think there is a
moral / ethical dimension to
the adoption of OSS in
government? Are you
prepared to work with people
who do?

Q: Now that Gen Justice got
you fired up about the value of
community, where the heck are
the communities?

Q: Are you prepared for the
moment when open software,
developed under government
contract, is forked by the
Chinese for their use?

Thanks!
Jim Stogdill
jstogdill@gestalt-llc.com
www.limnthis.com