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<p class=MsoPlainText>I'd like to comment that the government has always been a
strong supporter of FOSS and the DOD has made significant contributions.
This paper clarifies what is in my opinion a long standing DOD OSS position.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>For a long time the US Army, Corp of Engineers developed
GRASS GIS and it was the best solution out there. The SCS helped fund
this software development work. It kept pace w/ ESRI for many years
before the DOD decided to go with "Commercial Off The Shelf" (COTS)
software and stopped GRASS development. Other government workers such as Sol
Katz contributed all sorts of FOSS software. LT Plus was an early Raster
to Vector conversion program used by the USFS, SCS, and DOD. NASA has
contributed many more applications, data, and utilities. I’m not
positive, but I’m pretty sure that the contribution of GRASS makes the
DOD the largest contributor to OSGeo out there.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>For years we ran GRASS GIS on Sun workstations. The
fact that it was FOSS and had the potential of being ported made me try an
early 0.9.1 version of the Linux kernel and Slackware linux distributed on 23
floppy disks. A few months later and we had GRASS running on Linux.
By 1994(ish) we had 30 Linux workstations running kernel 0.9.7 and Dan Haskell’s
port of LTPlus doing raster to vector data conversion for the Interior Columbia
Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP). Before there was PostGIS, GDAL, QGis,
MapServer, or MapGuide OS the DOD and other government agencies were inventing
OSGeo. (Note: See http://ltplus.org)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>The DOD paper is notable in that it seems to somewhat
reverse the late 90s decision to push COTS. Since that time, there has
been much less FOSS running on the military networks. It’s good to
hear them make the clarification that FOSS can be considered COTS, but IMHO the
DOD and the US Government in general should be given credit for their long
standing support of OSGeo/FOSS software.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Craig<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Bruce Bannerman<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, October 27, 2009 4:21 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> discuss@lists.osgeo.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] new military OSS policy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Miles,<br>
<br>
It is encouraging to see this policy development.<br>
<br>
When combined with the new UK Government Policy on Open Source and Open
Standards [1], I can see that OS (spatial) is finally starting to get
some serious momentum within government circles.<br>
<br>
Perhaps other Governments will also start following suit...<br>
<br>
Bruce Bannerman<br>
<br>
[1] <a href="http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/government_it/open_source.aspx">http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/government_it/open_source.aspx</a><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><br>
> -----Original Message-----<br>
> From: <a href="mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org">discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
> [mailto:<a href="mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org">discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a>]
On Behalf Of Miles Fidelman<br>
> Sent: Wednesday, 28 October 2009 4:16 AM<br>
> To: OSGeo Discussions<br>
> Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] new military OSS policy<br>
><br>
> ... fresh from the OSD e-press<br>
><br>
> --<br>
> Miles R. Fidelman, Director of Government Programs Traverse<br>
> Technologies<br>
> 145 Tremont Street, 3rd Floor<br>
> Boston, MA 02111<br>
> <a href="mailto:mfidelman@traversetechnologies.com">mfidelman@traversetechnologies.com</a><br>
> 857-362-8314<br>
> <a href="http://www.traversetechnologies.com" target="_blank">www.traversetechnologies.com</a><br>
><br>
> <o:p></o:p></p>
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