Some decision makers may wonder whether open-source software is truly suitable for use in national security space programs. A study conducted by Mitre Corporation in 2003 on behalf of the Defense Information Systems Agency concluded that open-source technology plays a critical role within the Department of Defense for infrastructure support, software development, and information security. The fact is, much of our national infrastructure and economy is already dependent on open-source components. For example, the bulk of the Internet and the World Wide Web (70 percent, according to recent surveys) is powered entirely by open-source software. Vast numbers of Web sites employ the LAMP suite comprising:
Further, Linux and FreeBSD (another open-source operating system) are embedded in a wide variety of consumer devices, including wireless network routers, printers, telephones, video cameras, and TiVo, a popular digital video recorder. The mapping of the human genome would have taken far more time and money if it had not relied extensively on open-source infrastructure and applications. Many commercial ventures employ a mix of open and closed software. For example, both Google and Yahoo! rely on enormous server farms constructed entirely from commodity hardware and open-source operating systems and infrastructure.
Many commercial ventures support open-source software either in whole or in part. For example, Apple, IBM, Novell, and Red Hat each have a substantial commitment (billions of dollars per year, collectively) to the development and promulgation of open-source software.