According to The Register, US Military spy-drones may be tossing Windows and switching to Linux. If so, the community may finally get a piece of the action, and geeks will have compensation for lacking machismo. With the help of Shuttleworth™ and Unity, the interface could be very user-friendly for teenage recruits remotely piloting the drones, and would look comfortably similar to their iphones. Stallman may object to proprietary hardware, but no one will listen. If gnomes are involved, Torvalds may warn of an “unholy mess“, but Clem could tidy it up with a little cinnamon and a fork.
With colossal nemeses like Apple and Microsoft, Linux could use the popularity. There’s nothing like boasting responsibility for civilian casualties, massive surveillance capabilities, and wielding the potential power of the open-source community to Unite™ and steer their drones toward conscientious objectors. It is even possible that people could be intimidated into using only Linux, under duress of large – but invisible – bombs.
Benevolent angels such as SOPA and the DHS should discourage government abuse of GPL — and there should be plentiful counter contributions as well. The harmony between the intrinsic transparency of OSS and that of US Government, would be the perfect match for openness and accountability.
All in all, I foresee jubilee, and better drones. Linux is about freedom, and the US Government is too. Let the penguins fly again – with a vengeance!
