Arguably the most secretive agency on the planet, the US DoD has announced the US Department of Defense Open IT Conference to be held in Washington DC on the 11-12 December 2007.

Is it just me, or does it strike anyone as counter-intuitive for a government agency to lay its infrastructure out for anyone with a passing knowledge of emerging technologies, while on the other hand using the patriot act (title V) to strip away the rights of US citizens in the name of homeland security?

If this is not the case, then just what is the DoD’s interest in open-source? Deputy Program Executive Officer, Brigadier Nickolas G. Justice says..

Open source software is part of the integrated network fabric which connects and enables our command and control system to work effectively, as people’s lives depend on it. When we rolled into Baghdad, we did it using open source.

Politics aside, it does indicate how open source has moved firmly into the mainstream, and is being actively adopted by more than just web-savvy civilians.

From C|Net…

..It should be fascinating to see how much open source is being used in the world’s most finicky IT buyer. If open source can meet the performance and security demands of the US Department of Defense, surely it can enable more pedestrian uses of technology…like selling widgets or managing CRM systems.

Registration is around $895 for early bookings, and goes up to $1095 for late or ‘on the day’ bookings. That is, unless you work for the government, in which case you can expect to pay as little as $325 for entry.

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