That's good to hear. Maybe one step at a time government will come to idea of using open source software everywhere. Working with government organization I see how deep proprietary software is embeded into this sector. This comes with two problems:<p>- Shrinking budgets. As result - no support and crappy websites. (and I bet desktop apps as well, we just do not see these)<p>- Very hard time with open sourcing software developed with public funds (read - our taxes). Because most of the time software delivered in compiled form and vendor not obligated by contract to give full rights or source code on it to governmental agency paid for this work.<p>Good news - this happens slowly not only in defense, as in this example. Few governmental agencies managers start to pushing to open sourcing work done for agency. Which for me means mental shift happens.
I have a Dell Streak. I've had 9 of them over the past 9 months. Maybe 8, I've lost count.(And kudos to Rogers Wireless customer support for finally getting me one that's okay and also waiving my 24 month HW upgrade fee.)<p>I've had 3 new and the remainder have been refurbished models. Problems that have occurred:<p>1) Batteries not included.
2) PDMI cable not included, just a microUSB.
3) Screen tinted blue.
4) Dead pixels.
5) Vibrator damaged.
6) Accelerometer sluggish changing values.
7) Case peeling off in lower left corner.
8) Poor WiFi connectivity
9) Refusal to wake-up/power-off
10) Unlock slider resets mid-swipe, unable to unlock phone without fiddling with the power button and retrying several times.<p>and<p>11) the ubiquitous back panel issue. It falls off, especially if in pocket. Coupled with issue #9 you need a pair of pliers to regularly bend the tabs so the back panel will 'snick' into place and stay there.<p>It's been pretty useless as a phone. But I use it as a testing device. If an app works well on the Streak...<p>Also, in airplane mode (with WiFi on) battery life is really good.<p>DoD has to buy American if they can, but these things can't be relied upon.
Another jab at CarrierIQ. Like it's part of the "Single Android Specification" or something. Just because some unscrupulous carriers like to spy on their customers doesn't mean everybody with an Android phone is a chump. I've been on Android a year now and have used the carrier OS at most two days while I downloaded and installed CyanogenMod. If I can bypass CarrierIQ that easily, so can the US Department of Defense.<p>That said, there are plenty of other security concerns to worry about, but I just don't think CarrierIQ is relevant.
This isn't mentioned in the article, but the Venue was only approved because Dell added additional security features to Android. I don't recall what the exact changes were, but I believe that if those features were added to the Android core (which I don't think they will), the STIG could be modified for a larger range of devices.
Previous similar submission, <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3397786" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3397786</a><p>Like I said there, big news for <a href="http://www.palantirtech.com/government/mobile" rel="nofollow">http://www.palantirtech.com/government/mobile</a>