Emerging Issues in the Acquisition of Open Source Software within the US Department of Defense

Abstract

In the past five or so years, it has become clear that the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy have all committed to a strategy of acquiring software-intensive systems that require or utilize an "open architecture" (OA) and "open technology" (OT) that may incorporate OSS technology or OSS development processes. There are many perceived benefits and anticipated cost savings associated with an OA strategy. However, the challenge for acquisition program managers is how to realize the savings and benefits through requirements that can be brought into system development practice. As such, the central problem we examine in this paper is to identify principles of software architecture and OSS copyright licenses that facilitate or inhibit the success of an OA strategy when OSS and open APIs are required or are otherwise employed. By examining and analyzing this problem, we can begin to identify what additional requirements may be needed to fulfill an OA strategy during program acquisition.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 17, 2009
Accession Number
ADA530028

Entities

People

  • Thomas Alspaugh
  • Walt Scacchi

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Application Software
  • Business Administration
  • Computer Program Documentation
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Intellectual Property
  • Law
  • Open Source Software
  • Software Design
  • Software Development
  • Web Browsers
  • Word Processors

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Economics
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.