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Comment by vabmit | Hacker News Reader

The DoD is committing to Android as a platform in a massive way. Apps 4 Army is a key example. The push is so large and widespread that I think it will force the whole US Gov't along with it. Everyone from political leaders, to soldiers, to doctors at VA hospitals, to employees at defense contractors, will be required to use Android because of government security certifications and custom apps. There's a good chance that Android will become the very dominant winner in the mobile platform space because of this.

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Android is going to be the low cost field deployable random gadget, and this is an investment in bringing a minimum level of security to the platform.

For actual classified applications, the NSA (which provides solutions downstream to DoD and other groups) is already trying to standardize on a highly customized version of Windows CE built by General Dynamics that runs on XScale processors with NSA specific modifications. Some publicly visible applications of this stack are the Sectera Edge (the phone that replaced Obamas Blackberry) and the DTD2000.

Windows CE will become the very dominant winner in the mobile platform space because of this. :)

Windows CE? I'm surprised. I always thought the NSA really seemed to be embracing Linux.

I guess the way the Government see the situation is. If they're paying Microsoft to provide them with a service/software with guarantees drafted up into a contract when SHTF the Government can turn it all back on Microsoft and say, "But the contracted stated you would be providing a secure platform..." You'd be surprised how popular Windows CE actually is. I've seen it used a lot on touchscreen kiosks here in Australia.

Well, I certainly hope of all our governmental organizations the NSA is going to be the least inclined to satisfy themselves with "passing the blame to the supplier when security is inevitably compromised"

Yes, its used in single board applications like the mini2440. Though android 2.3 is quickly gaining popularity due to how simple it is to adapt and run.

I've heard this before. Remember 15+ years ago when the US Army chose WebObjects because it was so obscure it had no security issues? How is their adoption of Apple server gear since then?

DoD has a very effective PKI system using smart-cards deployed, so I wouldn't be as surprised as you to see them develop a baseline of software for Android.

What I would be surprised about is whether it's usable without needing 7 different contractor apps installed, or less than 3 years behind the times.

Now there is some pie-in-the-sky hope. I don't think it is going to play out that way though.

It would be pretty irresponsible for them to standardize on a single source vendor for this, so what are the alternatives? WinMo? Plus the government already has a long history of investing R&D into securing linux-based systems.

The alternative is to support multiple platforms. Standardizing on a single platform is as foolhardy as standardizing on a single company. Even open platforms have defacto owners/controllers (Java anyone?).

Government and multiple platforms. That's cute. I guess you've never worked an IT job in the government before.

> It would be pretty irresponsible for them to standardize on a single source vendor

What they typically do is write the specs to an existing product sometimes it is laughable really, you can tell exactly the product they mean without them actually mentioning its name. That is one way to put out bids that on paper look open and not tied to a particular vendor but in practice they are.

The other way is to do a pie in the sky kind of write-up. We want something that does everything and we're requesting quotes for it. That is silly as well.

What type of deluded nonsense is this ? Since when did adoption by the US government decide who will win the mobile platform 'war'.

And I was under the impression that Apps 4 Army was built for iOS first. Does that mean iOS will now 'win' ?

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