War and free software
On a sunny and seasonably warm January 27, 2007 Saturday afternoon about 500,000 people marched in Washington DC to send Congress the message to end America’s occupation in Iraq and bring the troops home. But, if the U.S. (and other countries) war machines have their way, future conflicts will rely less on human troops and more on automated weapons systems. And for all the reasons that free software is being chosen to satisfy businesses and individuals IT needs, so too is it being chosen by the world’s militaries to design, simulate, test and control their future weapons.
As most of us know, free software provides an abundant set of efficient and productive tools. Many are aware of the reported peaceful uses of free software in government. Linux has long been used in NASA, to create beowulf clusters, and now to develop land robot explorers. And, of course, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) provided most of the vision, funding and research in the creation of the internet, and more recently has sponsored the Grand Challenges competition for robot controlled vehicles.
Unbeknownst to many, however, is the increasing use of free software by the militaries of the world. Every now and then the mainstream media may report on some peripheral aspect of this, such as this article by the Washington Post on the NSA and Vista.
But Microsoft is clearly losing its luster with the military industrial complex because, well, would you trust running your naval fleet on Windows?
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