Dr. Marvin J. Langston, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy of Research, Development, and Acquisition, spoke of the influence of software technology on the way systems are built. He cited a very real accomplishment of the services, an information system built and fielded in two months using existing communications satellites and an internet link from our Bosnian peacekeeping force to servers and based on Netscape. He also described a pressing reason for interoperability in the engagements of today all the forces fight in the same theatre of battle, making it imperative that information be shared to avoid shooting at our own forces. The Year 2000, or millennium, problem was heavily discussed at several sessions. There are several defense-oriented web pages available for exchange of information, and each one has at least one working group associated with it.
Process continues to be a popular subject.
It was the subject of several tracks, and many talks, but people issues were a strong emerging theme even in process-related reports. Tom DeMarco and his associate Tim Lister delivered powerful messages across several presentations about how the recent emphasis on process has overshadowed how essential your people are. On the nontechnical side, I hope no one who attended missed Tom Sullivan's remarkable show and speech. He related his powerful, never give up message to our own endeavors in computer technology, and made the small things seem just that.