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Russia To Develop a National Operating System

Posted by kdawson on from the cutting-the-cord dept.

Elektroschock writes "According to Russian media, the Russian Government is going to develop a National Operating System (Google translation; Russian original) to lower its dependencies on foreign software technology licensing. The Russian plan will base its efforts on Linux and expects a worldwide impact. Microsoft is also involved in the roundtable process that led to the recommendation. The Chinese government successfully lowered its Microsoft licensing costs through an early investment in a national Linux distribution. I wonder if other large markets, such as the European Union, will also develop their own Linux distributions or join in the Russian initiative."

20 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. In Soviet russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    System operates YOU!

    1. Re:In Soviet russia by Neeperando · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I spent some time in Russia, although I have not been overly studious about Russian history. My understanding is that, during communism there were no goods in the stores. Now, there are plenty of goods, but no one can afford to buy them.

      I also get the impression that your average Russian has no desire to do the kinds of things that Americans would see as necessary to help the economy (start a small business, take risks, etc), because of the assumption, which is fair given the last 1000 years or so, that someone will just come in and take it all away and/or destroy it.

      Of course, these are just the impressions of a stupid American who only understands the Russian Soul to the extent it can be taught in a language class, and didn't take much Russian history. I could be way off.

      --
      Being a computer scientist means you tell people how computers should work, not that you know how they actually work.
    2. Re:In Soviet russia by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Funny

      I also get the impression that your average Russian has no desire to do the kinds of things that Americans would see as necessary to help the economy (start a small business, take risks, etc), because of the assumption, which is fair given the last 1000 years or so, that someone will just come in and take it all away and/or destroy it.

      You know, we Russians have an old joke. Here goes:

      A guy dies and ends up in hell. Before his punishment is due, he's shown around to know what is awaiting for him. At one moment, he and his demonic guide pass by three large foul-smelling pits full of dung.

      One pit is bustling with activity - people climb out there every minute or so in large groups, and there are several demons with pitchforks running around the pit pushing the climbers down. The demons are sweaty and obviously tired.
      The second pit is mostly quiet, but occasionally a single guy pokes his head outside, and immediately gets pushed down by a young lone demon, who is otherwise standing there yawning.
      The third pit is absolutely quiet. There is a very old demon with chipped horns lying near the edge snoring and cuddling his pitchfork in the sleep. However, no-one climbs out of the pit.

      The guy looks at all this for some time, and then asks what it is all about. His guide explains:

      "The first pit is for Jews. They always stick together and help each other, and as soon as one climbs one step above the others, he stops and helps them get up to his level.
      The second pit is for Europeans. They're hardworking, but individualist and way too proud of themselves, so they all climb alone, each on his own.
      The third pit is for Russians. As soon as one of them climbs even a little bit higher than the rest, those below him pull him down by the legs into the dung so that he knows his place."

  2. Don't they already have one? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't their National Operating System called Communism?

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Don't they already have one? by CrimsonScythe · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, it's called Lenix.

      --
      The view was horrible and the smell was even worse; Julie severely regretted becoming a proctologist.
    2. Re:Don't they already have one? by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      I bet Microsoft would have a field day with that.

      Proof! Open Source = Communism

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:Don't they already have one? by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Funny

      It would totally have to be based on RedHat.

    4. Re:Don't they already have one? by gsslay · · Score: 5, Funny

      I believe Trotskyux was popular for a while, but discontinued after being shown to be susceptible to hacking.

  3. Too many morons in EU Parliament by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 5, Interesting

    EU politiacians don't understand (or don't want to) the importance, the strategy and the economics of an EU-wide open-source policy!
    Private interests are more important by far!

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  4. Re:Reduce the cost of licensing? by jandrese · · Score: 5, Funny

    It apparently matters to someone, since China apparently got the price lowered as well. I have to wonder if it was worth all of the international hooplah to reduce the price of the single copy of Windows they bought.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  5. Re:Reduce the cost of licensing? by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It matters at least on the surface. The "big deal" is being a member of the WTO. You can't be a player in the WTO if you are branded as a thief. The other kids won't want to play with you!

    But, just as Ernie Ball, moving away from Microsoft is a good plan and illustrates perfectly now they are not as necessary as people think. But invariably, people are lured into taking the "easy" path... not changing and settling for a lower price and incentive to stay. "Lower price" is not the only incentive, of course... but officially, lower price is the incentive.

  6. Save money on licences... by ds_job · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ... but spend money on developing an operating system. Can they not just save all the hassle and choose Red Hat / Ubuntu / Debian / SlackWare / Mandriva / anything else at http://distrowatch.com?

    Seems like reinventing the wheel here.

  7. It's about time! by MarkEst1973 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why any country would voluntarily base their national security on imported, closed-source, non-free software is beyond my reasoning. If a country wants to control its infrastructure, it must use free software. Same goes for us computers users, too, of course, but the stakes are much higher for a sovereign nation.

  8. Not just yet by qWen71n · · Score: 5, Informative

    What the article actually says, is that some members of Russian parliament are just _proposing_ to develop a national OS. M$ representatives, on the other hand, say that it is not a national OS which Russia need, but to make use the technologies which are already exist. so, don't get excited just yet - there are many things they talk about in Russia.

  9. cccp by canuck08 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will it be written in C..C..C Plus?

    1. Re:cccp by gsslay · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nope.

      It will be developed in .NIET

  10. The summary is wrong. Again. by Akral · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article says that this is an idea, raised by some random people and it is only being organized and will be later offered to president Medvedev as a proposition. Calling it a fact, as the summary did, is so yellow press it hurts.

    --
    Don't worry, be happy!
  11. I see why Russia wants this by Teancum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can totally see why Russia would want to have this happen... at least their own distro for use internally within the Russian government.

    • Developers - By directly sponsoring a complete distro, they have their own developers who are both actively engaged within the greater Linux community, know the kernel cold (there certainly are Russian programmers who can be and are even now developing software currently in the kernel), and have their loyalties to the Russian society even if not directly to the Russian government. This means Russia has the developer base to keep up with the rest of the world in a critical area.
    • Security - If there is anybody paranoid about security, I don't know who is worse than the Russian government. The only way to have a genuinely secure operating system is to review each and every line of code that goes into that OS by somebody both with the skills necessary to properly evaluate the software, and the loyalty to the organization necessary to fix things that seem out of place. See also the above point, which is even more critical here.
    • Meeting local needs - by having a group that is embedded within the Russian culture that certainly is not a part of the Silicon Valley culture, they have a much better grasp of what is needed for their own local society. While working with Cyrillic characters isn't that much different from Latin characters, this is but one situation where local support is desperately needed. Interfacing with older Soviet systems is certainly an issue as well... I can only imagine some of the compatibility issues that would have to be worked out there.
    • National pride - There is also a little bit of national pride on the line here as well. Having something "made in Russia" is powerfully attractive for a number of reasons... at the very least to show that your country is able to keep up with the best and the brightest on the planet. Of all the reasons I've listed, this really is the least significant, but the one most head-smacking obvious and ultimately the one that would best sell to a legislative body that has to pay for any significant expenses to get this project going. I certainly doubt that Russian citizens are going to be upset with a modest expense being directed in this fashion through their tax dollars.

    A top to bottom review of the Linux kernel from another group of developers with a completely different interests, backgrounds, and motivations than other major contributors to Linux would also be a very good thing for the development of Linux as a whole. I wish Russia the best on getting this accomplished, and I hope that their success is huge.

    It isn't like the American government doesn't do this too. The NSA (National Security Agency... aka the USA cyber spys) has their own distro for most of the reasons I've listed above, and has nearly continuous recruitment going on at college campuses for CS graduates. The Red Flag distro (Chinese) is another national distro that has been done for more than just pressuring Microsoft into lowering the price of Windows.

    Frankly, I see Microsoft's involvement here as a red herring and something to ignore for this discussion.

  12. Re:In Russia by AndGodSed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey... have I spoken to you today? I work in tech support...

    --

    Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity

  13. Re:In Russia by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, you are the one that set my printer on fire and laughed at me over the phone for at least an hour. All I wanted was an updated pdf reader.

    You guys take the BOFH status waaaay too serious.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.