[Infowarrior] - DISA teaching open source

[Richard Forno]

U.S. defense agency teaching open source
by Matt Asay

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10311789-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

It says something about open source's impact on the world when the the  
U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency--a division in the Department  
of Defense--starts running seminars on how to shift to open-source  
software.

Could there be a better sign that open source has arrived?

After all, it's one thing to adopt open source, which the U.S. federal  
government has in earnest--but to advocate for it and teach it? That's  
a higher level.

The September 1 seminar, co-hosted by the Defense Information Systems  
Agency (DISA) and the Open Source Software Institute (OSSI), promises  
to detail the Open Source Corporate Management Information System  
(OSCMIS) program, a "Web-based federal administrative software suite  
consisting of more than 50 applications which handles human resource,  
training, security, acquisition and related functions for DISA's more  
than 16,000 users worldwide."

John Weathersby, executive director of the OSSI, told me over e-mail  
that "this is about transparency and sharing and making available  
resources which have already been paid for."

It's not some utopian open-source ideology; it's about opening up  
government by opening up software.

If you're interested in attending the training in Washington, D.C.,  
seating is limited but still available. More details can be found at  
OSSI's Web site.