Open Source a National Security Threat 921
n3xup writes "Dan O'Dowd, CEO of Green Hills Software, suggests that open source software has the capability of being sabotaged by foreign developers and should not be used for U.S. military or security purposes. He likened Linux with a Trojan Horse- free, but in the end a lot of trouble. O'Dowd thinks that unfriendly countries will attempt to hide intentional bugs that the Open Source community will have no chance of finding."
TCP (Score:2, Funny)
Totally! Lets OUTSOURCE instead! (Score:5, Funny)
*We wanted to buy software from only American developers, but we couldn't afford it.
Don't Trust Linus! (Score:4, Funny)
This reminds me of an old saying (Score:5, Funny)
O'Dowd thinks that unfriendly countries will attempt to hide intentional bugs that the Open Source community will have no chance of finding.
If the source is open how can there be no chance in finding bugs or whatever else they wish to put in the source?
This is clearly FUD to protect their market from the steam-roller known as FOSS. Security through obscurity is already proven faulty.
Re:Understand the Source Perspective (Score:5, Funny)
Here's the likely scenario (Score:5, Funny)
Lead Programmer at Major Defense Contractor: Hey, can you install this patch by the that new Pakastani contributor for our missile control module?
New programmer: Yeah, I looked at it. There was some weird code in there that I couldn't quite figure out. There was some one line Perl code with about 10,000 characters. Shouldn't we look at it? What does it do, exactly?
Lead Programmer: Naw. I don't think it really matters. I don't want to look stupid because I sure can't figure Perl out. Let's just go with the release early and often policy. We'll let the users report the bugs back to us.
Re:Understand the Source Perspective (Score:3, Funny)
Just a very brief point, but how do you fix embedded system bugs? Am I incorrect in thinking that embedded means that the OS is onchip?
Open is Closed. (Score:4, Funny)
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
War is Peace.
Wrong Analogy (Score:5, Funny)
If the Trojan Horse were really Open Source, it would have had a list of building materials, instructions on building the horse yourself, the number of greek warriors inside, how the warriors were armed, along with several notes from the Phoenicians commenting on the dangers of the included Greeks...
yeah (Score:2, Funny)
right! because it's closed source... Only non-american programmers are smart... no one else will be able to decipher Dr. Evil's mini me bug... finally mexicans will be able to get green cards by the millions!
muahahahahahaha muahahahahaha
btw. I'm mexican
Obligitory Office Space joke (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Oh really (Score:4, Funny)
The idea of an easter egg in missle guidance software is amusing, at least.
"Now see here, Joe, lemme show you a little trick. You fire this here missle directly at the sun and that enables the solitare game!"
Re:Understand the Source Perspective (Score:2, Funny)
Exactly. We don't want any Nazis in charge of our defense systems. That's a security threat.
Re:Confused About The Logic (Score:3, Funny)
The article, apparently. This point is covered. Accept his argument or refute it, but don't just re-state the question.
Seen on a T-Shirt (Score:3, Funny)