I have a background in combat systems OS’ from way back. Had the men who actually wrote the ACDS Block 0 system working for me. Smart, smart guys, who explained just why it was important to make it the way it was…for the most streamlined movement of tactically important data, unmolested by interrupts like “printer offline.” After I listened, it made lots and lots of sense. “Open source” operating systems were not designed with a combat imperative in mind. Makes a huge difference when SS-N-22s are inbound, ya think?

Not sure if I’m a fan of open systems software, but…the SPAWARs bubbas have shown it works on USS DESERT SHIP at White Sands Missile Range

• Hellboy psp A Raisin in the Sun trailer

. From the SpaceWar site:

US Navy Test Confirms Missile Firing Capability Of Aegis Open Architecture

Aegis Open Architecture will allow the Navy to stay on technology’s leading edge through its innovative use of commonly-available commercial off-the-shelf computing hardware and open system software, enabling the service to more easily implement technology refreshes and capability upgrades to the weapon system as they are developed in the future.
by Staff Writers
White Sands NM (SPX) Jan 31, 2008
In a successful first test of its advanced fire control system, Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Aegis Open Architecture Weapon System recently performed a successful missile firing from the U.S. Navy’s “USS Desert Ship” at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). This was the first test of upgrades to both the Aegis Fire Control System and the MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) installed on the USS Desert Ship, the Navy’s land-based, live-fire test bed for surface-to-air weapons.

The platform is continually upgraded to meet the Navy’s live fire testing requirements.
[…]

I know it saves lots of hard won cash in the budget battles, but it also makes it easy for non-military types, as well as other then US military types to, if they get their hands on the code, to understand it much, much easier, if not the ability to decompile the code.

Call me a dinosaur in that way, but it makes my skin crawl.