:: Deepquest ::

Three weeks ago, John P. Stenbit, chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Defense, issued an agencywide memo that has Linux lovers rejoicing. The brief outlined the DOD’s policy on acquiring, using and developing open-source software, including the Linux operating system. By creating an official policy, the DOD is “outing” open source, a technology that was stuck in government limbo, neither condoned nor outlawe.

“People used to think they’d get fired if they talked about it. It was ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,'” says Tony M. Stanco, founding director of the Center of Open Source & Government, a policy think tank. “But now that the DOD has legitimized open source, people won’t be afraid to come out and say that they use it.”

The government may be Linux’s main squeeze for a while. Corporate IT spending is expected to be flat this year. In contrast, the U.S. government will spend an estimated $59 billion on tech in 2003, up 7% from last year. Tech giants such as Computer Sciences, Dell, IBM , Oracle, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are typically the biggest beneficiaries of federal spending. Of note: Through products sold by those companies, the government may already be consuming more open-source software than it thinks.

more from [url=http://www.forbes.com/home/2003/06/20/cz_eb_0620linux.html]Forbes[/url]