What a week for a computer crash, right? You miss a single day here and you miss some great talk. I’m still catching up.

Anyway, as part of my news-catch up today I read this announcement from the U.S. Army about Apps for the Army, an “application-development challenge… used to help the service more quickly acquire software applications.” Soldiers and Army civilians were eligible to team up and develop software applications based on the iPhone OS or Android. They had 90 days, and 140 people competed. Today the 5 winners and ten runners-up in all five categories were announced.

The winners included a program that breaks down a new physical fitness manual of 400 pages into an multimedia presentation, one that helps potential recruits size themselves up, and the Telehealth Mood Tracker app, which “allows users to track their psychological health over a period of days, weeks and months using a visual analogue rating scale.” An honorable mention went to an App that would turn an iPhone essentially into a black box in case of “extreme shock events” — so, for instance, if an IED exploded nearby. It would take a series of pictures and report its location, the time, etc. to help with compiling a report later on.

Danger Room (do I get extra credit for mentioning Ackerman’s second home?) is already on it, of course, with a good run down of what the winning apps will do and why it will be a while before iPhones are field ready. What’s most interesting is that, according to the piece, all of the applications will be open source and the Army will be open to adaptation by outside developers.

Yeah, open source software, coming soon to your Army. Why? Speed:

Sorenson said the Army is looking at both the hardware and software-development process demonstrated by the iPhone and the Android to help shape the way the Army does business. Using commercial hardware like the iPhone or the Android can provide for the Army a common operating environment, he said.

Additionally, the software development process demonstrated by the “application stores” for both systems — one that was proven inside the Army through the Apps for the Army contest — can help the Army get applications and capability to the warfighter faster, because developers will already know what systems their software will run on.

What what? The Army’s considering using a predictable, stable, functional operating system that allows rapid upgrades, is user-friendly and familiar, and can be actually made to do practical things in a short amount of time without a budget of billions of development dollars? Someone call the CIA. This isn’t the government work I’m used to.