Slashdot Mirror
No Russian Operating System, At Least For Now
Elektroschock writes "The project by 27 Russian parties to develop a National Operating System for Russia has not taken off, yet (Russian). Ilya Ponomarev, the responsible technology committee chair in the Duma, received a negative response from the government. The government argues that the project and Open Standards would not impact the society and economy. Parliament members regret the setback for Russia's digital independence. Ponomarev wants to find other interested partners in the Government now." The Google translation makes it tough to tell whether this project is actually dead, or just shelved for the moment. Any Russian speakers out there who can parse it with greater clarity?
The article title is: "Russian Windows will not exist." So probably not. One of the quotes says how he would like a repository of open-source stuff for the benefit of society, but now, such a repository will not exist. So it seems dead.
that the government refused to support the "national software platform" but it still plans to stimulate development and use of FLOSS software. This is a point of view I personally agree with. Why reinvent the wheel once again when you can just pick a linux distro and tweak it according to your needs? :)
From what I can tell from the article, the proposal was forwarded to the Communications Ministry, which replied with a rejection letter, citing the expense involved and lack of clear success metrics. There were also concerns over ghettoizing Russian IT industry away from the international mainstream.
Ponomoarev is not giving up, though, and is seeking direct dialogue between his parliamentary committee and representatives of the Ministry, and also considering discussing his proposal with other government agencies.
Original Russian text says that Government supported the idea of using open source software, but declined to support National OS.
So the project is dead.
There will be no "Russian Windows"
Deputy Ilya Ponomarev's letter to President Medvedev about the creation of a "national software platform" was redirected to the Ministry of Communications. According to CNews sources, the Ministry's reply letter to the deputy supports the orientation towards domestic and open-source software, but criticizes the deputy's main point - Ponomarev's "national software platform" proposal.
The authors of the reply (CNews has obtained a copy) agree that "supporting domestic developers is of strategic importance" and "stimulating the creation and use of open-source software is one of the government's priorities in the area of IT policy". However, they argue against the creation of a national software platform, believing that such a measure will not be a solution for the domestic IT sector's problems. The ministry writes that "the creation of such a combination of operating systems, software tools, software applications and open standards will not give a return to the economy and society".
The text directly mentions the high cost and risk of the project from the corruptibility point of view, due to the uncertainty of the criteria for project success. The authors also see a danger in the separation between the domestic and world IT industries that would result from the choice of such a development policy.
The Ministry of Communications proposes an orientation towards the possibilities that are enabled by the open-source model of software development. It proposed to direct the nation's limited resources towards the development and modification of "world leading solutions in cooperation with the world's best specialists".
Considering the above, the reply proposes to "harmonize Russian normative regulations with international law, including the Civil Code and a number of federal laws". Among the other proposed measures are the development of a list of prescriptions to ensure the compatibility between government IT systems, pilot projects for switching government agencies to open-source software, the creation of a repository of such software, and legislation to counteract monopolies in government IT purchases.
Ilya Ponomarev, chairman of the Duma technology development subcommittee, has not received the reply so far, but agreed to comment on the text that is in CNews' possession. "All of the Ministry's proposals on the one hand are directly listed in our letter, and on the other hand contradict the argument given in the reply", the deputy says. "I can only welcome the creation of a repository for domestic open-source software, if it will be created. At the moment there does not exist such a repository."
The MP is is sure that the Ministry of Communications does not want to engage in investment activities in the IT sector, but simply wants fo stimulate them within the framework of economic liberalism. "All successful large-scale high-tech projects have been completed with the indirect participation of the state. The Internet, Unix -- these are all indirect results of government programs. We will not succeed purely by market stimulation measures, such a development is possible only given an established market, and we do not have one," Ponomarev told CNews. "I am happy that the Ministry has realized the necessity of legislative initiatives, and I await Ministry representatives to present their proposals to our committee. If the Ministry of Communications does not want to deal with the national software platform, we can partner with other government agencies."
Prove the NSA backdoors before adding more to the FUD-pile that is slashdot commenting on commercial software. Ill help you start: a mention of the letters NSA via a hex dump isnt proof of anything but your own credulity.
No its not. And i am not your comrade ;p
THIS IS MY "NOT VERY GOOD" TRANSLATION BELOW:
Letter of member of Duma(russian parliament), Ilya Ponamorev, addressed to President Medvedev regarding of creation of "national programming platform" was readdressed to ministry of communication. Widely discussed initiative, strengthened by 27 representatives of different 19 organizations didn't seem to find any support in parliament.
In return letter to member of Duma from "profile ministry", there is interest in supporting of localized(in this case it may also mean national, russian) free(i guess, as in freedom of speech) applications, however, there is strong criticism towards "national programming platform" offered by Ponamarjov.
From there I translate it freely, since authors of this article, even though speak Russian natively, don't speak it well, as such its even more difficult to me to translate it back to english...
Authors of letter that is being replied, confirm that support of Open Software is strategically important. Their main argument against - is that solution offered is not going to solve problems of russian IT sector. Creation of opened standards, tools and operative systems wont return economy any benefits.
It is also mentioned, that project is risky, possibly opened to corruption and expensive. They also are affraid that in case if project takes off and becomes successful - that may separate russian IT industry from the rest of the world.
In ministry of communication they propose to follow models of development of open software.
They also offer to "harmonize" russian it laws with international laws. They also propose creation of plan aimed at better interoperability of Informational Systems, small projects of migration of russian government organizations to Open Software, creation of repository of such Open Software, lawful resistance to monopoly on market of Informational Telecommunicational Technology.(my bold guess, since it uses abbriviation)
Ilja Ponamarjov did not receive letter just yet, but already commented to text which is available to CNews. "All proposals of Ministry of communication exist in proposal, but rather oppose it"(note by translator: obvious communicational issue). "I can only agree creation of repository of national opened software, if it actually will exist."(jesus christ, at least someone speaks russian there) "At the moment such repository doesn't exist".
Member of Parliament is sure that Ministry of Communication is not interested in investment activity in sector of Informational Telecommunication Technologies, but rather wants to stimulate it's development in frames of liberal theory.(my god, who came up with that way of explaining things?). "All big sucessfull highly technological projects happened while being directly affected by goverment. Internet, Unix - all are side effects of government projects. Acting with methods of market stimulation won't do, such development of events requires existing market, which we dont have. I am glad that Ministry has realized necessity of law initiatives and await representatives of Ministry of Telecommunication in our comity for discussing of our proposals. If Ministry of Telecommunications is not interested - we have all possibilities for partnership with other Ministries"