[dundee] Help us open source NASA.gov

[Tim Spencer]

There's quite a few OpenSource tools that are being used by Space agencies.
Many on the other hand are closed source. Linux as an Operating System is
widely used, mainly because its better in all aspects. There is a
differentiation between normal desktop users and qualified professionals
though.
Back end mainly Linux and open Source Software. User end normally fewer.

*In house produced software *that have the possibility of being produced on
an OpenSource basis fail on underlying principle that the software is
designed for a specific purpose by few individuals and hence security
through obscurity is used. Larger programs are mainly produced on a long
standing purpose, tens of years, and again are used for a specific purpose
which would find few compatible scenarios. Hence due to the limited
application area most never reach the open market. (And sometimes this is
also not wanted the time and money spent developing these programs could
easily allow other countries to easily set up their own space program)

'Outside' solutions which can be migrated to an 'in house' scenario where
they would offer more advantages often are. In this view more are moving
away from closed source software/OS to open source software/OS.

The main Fault-line is that graphically intensive software is mostly solely
for a PR perspective (Talking on a operational Level not for payload data).
For the actual workload the most useful information is displayed in raw
data or in graphs displaying such. No heavy 3d work needs to be done by
either Software or Operating System and hence new Operating System have
little advantage (especially windows based). Also the difficulty of moving
away from older Windows based system is hard not merely because many
programs used are purposely fit.

We have big problems even migrating to newer versions of Open Source OS
because the programs being deployed are not compatible and old OS are not
compatible with new hardware.To migrate remaining windows systems to any
kind of Open Source OS is not an easy and cheap task (the latter being more
important these days), Don't even mention the programs which handle some
aspects, development time is so large, even for large Big name companies,
that once the software has been fully developed and operational it is
obsolete again.

Overall I would say though that, at least from my perspective, this
industry is moving more and more in the Open Source direction and with the
new vega rockets being launched out of french Guiana (hughe benefit for
europen companies http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16986043 )
and the Soyuz being launched from the same location (bigger payload cause
its closer to the equator
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15335656 ) this sector looks
on the up. Even the bbc think so lol
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16739361

Enjoy

On 21 February 2012 23:06, gordon dunlop <zubenel at fedoraproject.org> wrote:

> This is a request from NASA for companies and organisations to help them
> open source the NASA.gov website and its intranet.
>
> http://open.nasa.gov/blog/2012/02/18/help-us-open-source-nasa-gov/
>
> It has a code tab on the website where people can view and download the
> code for its Linux and open source projects, there are quite a few. This is
> an article about these projects from Linux.com
>
>
> https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/535755-organizing-open-source-efforts-at-nasa
>
> Gordon
>
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