"On a sunny and seasonably warm January 27, 2007 Saturday afternoon about 500,000 people marched in Washington DC to send Congress the message to end America’s occupation in Iraq and bring the troops home. But, if the U.S. (and other countries) war machines have their way, future conflicts will rely less on human troops and more on automated weapons systems. And for all the reasons that FOSS is being chosen to satisfy businesses and individuals IT needs, so too is it being chosen by the world’s militaries to design, simulate, test and control their future weapons.
"As most of us know, FOSS provides an abundant set of efficient and productive tools. Many are aware of the reported peaceful uses of FOSS in government. Linux has long been used in NASA, to create beowulf clusters, and now to develop land robot explorers. And, of course, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) provided most of the vision, funding and research in the creation of the internet, and more recently has sponsored the Grand Challenges competition for robot controlled vehicles..."
