U.S. Department of Defense: Enlisting Open-Source Applications

1. Given the critical nature of defense activities, security in this environment is a primary concern. How do the agencies discussed in the case address this issue? Can you think of anything else they could be doing? Provide some recommendations.

Although open source software may seem less secure than proprietary software, it might be the other way around. Since the code is openly accessible to a lot of programmers, bugs and loopholes are constantly being checked and fixed, unlike proprietary software where the company still has to wait for the next release from the author or company that created it. But being secure doesn’t mean that it is a perfect software. It will still do some tasks well and others not so well; in other words, like proprietary software, it will still have limitations and weaknesses. Because of this, we suggest for the organization to use open source software only to support non-classified functions such as hr, accounting and payroll – universal business functions where people outside the company are knowledgeable about. By doing so, outsiders and enemies will be completely clueless of the capabilities and functionalities of the software that support their critical functions like military tactics and weaponry details.

2. The U.S. Department of Defense is arguably one of the largest organizations in the world. Managing technology for such an organization is certainly a major endeavor. Does the shift toward open-source initiatives help in this regard? Does it hurt? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of adopting open-source applications in large organizations.

A shift toward open source software would likely result in more software updates from either in-house or third party programmers than replacement of the whole software. One of the major strengths of open source is the