WestWorld Productions: Could Cyber-Terrorism Promote Open-Source Software?
Jul 10, 2002, 13:00 (12 Talkback[s])
"Cutter Consortium Fellow Ed Yourdon recently suggested that a
dramatically successful cyber-terrorism attack might lead to a
government-imposed mandate to use open-source software. In his
latest book Byte Wars, Yourdon suggests that since September 11 we
live in a world of unpredictable, and sometime malevolent,
disruptive change. In the book he argues that this new state of
affairs, which will probably persist for the next several years, is
likely to cause a number of paradigm shifts in the IT industry, as
well as various other parts of society. This potentially-mandated
use of open source is one such change.
"Says Yourdon, 'Even without another dramatic incident,
September 11 set into motion a series of analyses and assessments
that could cause a dramatic shift toward open-source software. Up
until now, we've heard discussions and debates about the
marketplace acceptance of open-source systems like Linux, and the
open-source advocates might have predicted that within another 5 or
10 or 20 years, their paradigm for software development would
gradually dominate the more familiar and traditional paradigm of
proprietary software.
"'But, if a terrorist group uses a cyber-attack to bring down
the nation's telecommunications network, or banking network, or
air- traffic control system, or electric power grid, or any other
part of the 'critical infrastructure' for even a day or two, the
situation could change dramatically--a government mandate to use
open-source could not only accelerate an otherwise slow and steady
movement, it could enforce it as a matter of law...'"
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