Putin Orders Russian Move To GNU/Linux

Glyn Moody writes "Vladimir Putin has signed an order calling for Russian federal authorities to move to GNU/Linux, and for the creation of 'a single repository of free software used in the federal bodies of executive power.' There have been a number of Russian projects to roll out free software, notably in the educational sector, but none so far has really taken off. With the backing of Putin, could this be the breakthrough free software has been waiting for?"

Comments

I knew it!

[Cro Magnon]

Linux really IS communist!

Re:I knew it!

[fishexe]

Linux really IS communist!

But this would indicate Linux is post-communist kleptocratic...

Re:I knew it!

[burnin1965]

You've been spending way too much time in a French cave.

The Russians left Communism behind around 1991 and have managed to leap past the United States to Mafioso Capitalism. Though the U.S. is trying hard to catch up.

Putin and freedom !!??

[JonySuede]

With the backing of Putin, could this be the breakthrough free software has been waiting for?

I am pretty sure that Putin don't care about the freedom part of free software

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

With the backing of Putin, could this be the breakthrough free software has been waiting for?

I am pretty sure that Putin don't care about the freedom part of free software

Why is that? Putin is acting on behalf of the government who are primarily users, not developers of software they hope to sell. The 'freedom" part is freedom for him, and brings real benefits to him and his, like the ability to gain free code contributions from others around the world and the ability to comparison shop when looking at vendors for support and the like. Any code generated by the government will likely cost less in the long run if they contribute it back rather than maintaining a fork.

So really, while we may not see a pile of code contributions as a result of this, more adoption means more motivation to support it for hardware vendors and more motivation for application developers and tool creators to target it. And really, lack of momentum and market share is one of the biggest problems for OSS, a chicken and egg scenario.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[drinkypoo]

Pretty sure Stuxnet has got his attention. I assure you that the Free part is relevant, because the Open thing is part of the Free thing, and that means peer-reviewed software. Sure, you could still do something like Stuxnet in a Linux environment, but hopefully people are thinking about all kinds of security and not just precisely the same type of breach that is in the news.

If Putin asked me (heh heh) how he could enhance the security of computing in Russia, I'd certainly suggest Linux, maybe even GNU/Linux.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[aBaldrich]

I think it its "free from American companies" that counts.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[gtall]

For Putin, there are likely two draws to FOSS: 1. using it means money likely isn't being shipped to Western software companies leaving more for in-country software development, and 2. his mafia geeks in the FSB, the genetic spawn of the KGB, can check for any sneaky backdoors.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[mlts]

This.

If Russia starts using Linux and demanding that app vendors make programs compatible for the OS, or else they will pay or find application vendors that will, this will get the mainstream guys to start treating Linux as a top tier platform and not something to hide in the server room racks.

The result? A win/win/win situation. Linux can become an alternative to Windows. Application makers have a gigantic market (Russia, then possibly China, then perhaps Europe, anywhere there is distrust of closed operating systems.) Users have an OS choice that has proven itself in the "big boy" arenas that can run their applications without having to buy new hardware.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[kenrblan]

I think you have Putin confused with Boris Yeltsin. In regard to the move to GNU/Linux, I suspect Putin has seen the number of exploits and malware written for Windows and is aware that much of it originates in Russia.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[h4rr4r]

Why is that a problem?
Seems like complying with the GPL.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[Daniel Dvorkin]

I don't see the adoption of something by a dictator as a great endorsement.

Endorsement? Who cares about endorsement? What matters is results.

If the Russian government moves to F/OSS, that will be good for F/OSS, just like IBM making F/OSS an integral part of its business plan has been. It doesn't mean they're good guys. They don't have to be. Dictatorial governments and giant corporations alike are pretty much always evil. Sometimes they do good as a side effect. When that happens, we should take advantage of it. "No permanent allies, only permanent interests."

Leave the worrying about "endorsements" to people buying overpriced athletic shoes.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[ladoga]

Stuxnet had nothing to do with windows. It attacked motor controller chips made by Seimans.

It used four zero day vulnerabilities in Windows and the Siemens PLC's (that controls the VFDs) control interface runs on Windows.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[Grishnakh]

And more importantly, who cares? The Russian government isn't going to produce Linux-based appliances and sell them to us, refusing to release the source code. They're a government, not a commercial manufacturer, so any OSS software they use is going to be used internally only, not distributed anywhere. They're perfectly within their rights to make any changes they want and not release them; the GPL only says they have to provide the changes downstream, to people they distribute to. Again, as a government, they're unlikely to be distributing software to anyone but government employees.

Of course, if they're smart, they'll contribute some changes so that they don't have to waste effort maintaining a separate codebase and merging it every time the upstream codebase changes. If not, no one here is going to notice.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[jenningsthecat]

The result? A win/win/win situation.

Don't you mean a 'lin/lin/lin situation'?

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[Grishnakh]

Various US politicians HAVE called for the execution of Assange.

And yes, he is a journalist. He receives information, and publishes it in a forum where anyone can read it. What, do you think people should have to get a special permit from the government to be considered a "journalist"? Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Anyone with a website can be a journalist if they're publishing information. The only difference between now and 50-100 years ago is that the cost of starting your own journalism publication has gone from an extremely high cost (the cost of a printing press) to about $3/month for a low-cost web host.

Manning was never a journalist, he was an informer. Traitor, maybe, but then again so is anyone in North Korea who doesn't think Kim Jong Il is a glorious leader, so I take that term with a grain of salt. Informers are how journalists get information that makes governments uncomfortable.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[hotfireball]

Guys, stop saying bullsh*t, for the sake of Universe... Use Google Translation and read Putin's order CAREFULLY, if you can not speak Russian! :( He orders to contribute and keep it all opened. If you missing that from the document, then problem is your personal, but stop spreading FUD, especially when entire country is serious ditching M$ away. Currently M$ is a god in Russia, does whatever they like and that's what government hates the most. Especially, if they never built their binaries of the OS from their audited code by themselves. How you can be so sure there are no backdoors planted to the Windows and how you can be so sure that the source code version that was offered for government review matches actual binaries deployed?

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[tftp]

It's called the FSB now, and they may well insert backdoors in code

Even KGB in worst times (70's-80's) wasn't that paranoid. There was no wholesale spying on people. In East Germany Erich Honecker did that; but in USSR KGB knew their foe, and the foe knew that. Everyone else lived their lives and didn't care about KGB. If you did something untoward KGB would actually summon you "for a talk" first, and only if you persist then harsher measures would be used.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[niftydude]

It's a wonder the IRS doesn't require you to buy some expensive Windows-only software to file your taxes, and actually uses standard PDF forms.

Yeah - lucky you. This year in Australia, the ATO has been in the progress of migrating it's tax submission system which used a java client that ran on windows, mac and linux, to a new tax submission system which now runs on windows only.
If I want to submit my taxes online in OZ, for the first time in 10 years I'II now have to buy a windows license.

At last!

[gregthebunny]

2011 WILL be the year of the [Russian] Linux desktop!

i'm so sorry so sorry

[caffeinemessiah]

In America, you put in Linux.

In Soviet Russia, Putin Linux you.

GNU?

[slapout]

Did Putin really say "GNU/Linux" or just Linux?

Re:GNU?

[ralphdaugherty]

Did Putin really say "GNU/Linux" or just Linux?

Putin's order didn't even say Linux. Says free software. Free as in speech. They already use free as in beer.

Re:Its about control/censorship

[WaywardGeek]

Actually, it's probably just the opposite. After the BSD backdoor story and after the Wikileaks cables, maybe Russia is concerned about using Microsoft Windows. Of course, Microsoft would *never* work with the NSA/FBI/CIA/Control/Chaos on back-doors that undermine the security of Russia... I can't imaging why they would want their own operating system...

Re:American

[Cidolfas]

The murder/arrest/expulsion of journalists and news sources who disagree with you? That's a big one for me.

Re:American

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I would recommend either reading up on Putin's quietly enthusiastic suppression of opposition, close ties with a circle of crony-capitalist plutocrats who did very well in the post-soviet privatization, and vaguely sinister cult of personality.

If you have already done that and still like him; I urgently suggest checking yourself for signs of closet authoritarian nationalism...

"could this be the breakthrough...

[John Hasler]

...free software has been waiting for?"

No. Free Software has not been waiting for anything.

Probably Not

[Greyfox]

He's probably just playing hardball with Microsoft for a discount. You may notice that every time some country announces that it's moving to Linux, they inevitably announce, 3 months later, that they changed their mind and are sticking with Microsoft. Turns out if you're a country and you want a huge discount on Microsoft products, you just announce you're moving to Linux.

Re:Good luck managing that LAN

[alcourt]

A coworker of mine rolled out several years ago a robust, audit hardened user management framework for Unix systems that does very well in audits that Active Directory routinely fails. This sits on an estimated 20k-30k Unix based systems of multiple flavors.

AD does not have a built in framework for account validation (asking appropriate authorities, does this account still need to exist?). The role based concepts are relatively primitive. There is no capability to preserve the authorization record for granting access. All of those concepts have to be added on.

Actually deploying accounts, nothing beats actual local accounts. The trick is to have a robust agent that actually manages those accounts.

I've reviewed some of the various enterprise grade products, and none of them did as well as this self-built product.

Most products for user management simply have no mind to the audits, only pretty pictures. There is rarely even any logging of value.

AD is really nothing more than LDAP + Kerberos with a pretty GUI. It simply should never be considered adequate in and of itself for user management because it does not address several key requirements of the area.