Freeware Versus Commercial Office Productivity Software

Abstract

In 1998, the Department of Defense (DOD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) was created as an official DOD initiative sponsored by the DOD chief information officer (CIO) to lead in the establishment and management of enterprise commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) information technology agreements, assets, and policies. This included software products such as Microsoft, Oracle, VMWare, and multiple others. In July 2010, Google announced the launch of Google Apps for Government, adapting Google's widely popular freeware for government agency usage. This study analyzes the proposed benefits of using freeware, specifically Google Apps, in the DOD in relation to reliability, cost, and security. The results of our analysis supported our recommendation to the DOD ESI to begin complete integration of Google Apps within DOD commands.