Putin's Internet Czar Wants To Ban Windows On Government PCs

SmartAboutThings writes: The Russian government is allegedly looking to ban Microsoft's Windows operating system, increase taxes on foreign technology companies, develop its homegrown OS and encourage local tech companies to grow. All these proposals comes from German Klimenko, Vladimir Putin's new 'internet czar, as Bloomberg describes him. In a 90-minute interview, Klimenko said forcing Google and Apple to pay more taxes and banning Microsoft Windows from government computers are necessary measures, as he is trying to raise taxes on U.S. companies, thus helping local Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru.

Comments

And?

[present_arms]

What's the downside?

Re:And?

[buchner.johannes]

Exactly. With the privacy blunder Microsoft committed with Windows 10, plus its NSA collaboration, it is not unreasonable for other countries to ban Windows for government work and spend the money on alternatives.

Re:And?

[gstoddart]

When the US government is in court with Microsoft over how they could use secret laws to claim Microsoft has to break the laws of other countries ... I fail to see how Microsoft, or any US company, can really be trusted.

This seems an entirely prudent response from Russia. I'm actually surprised more companies aren't actively wondering just how much Microsoft and others can be controlled by the US government.

When the US government is actively trying to ensure backdoors in encryption and the like, why would you assume there aren't any? You think these companies are going to make the international version with no US spying capabilities?

Good luck with that.

Re:And?

[bill_mcgonigle]

If you're in the US, losing the entire Russian government market is a blow to the balance of trade and local economy. This single contract is just representative of everything that's happening across the industry - it's far larger.

But Americans seem to WANT NSL's and are willing to sacrifice the entire tech sector, the basis of their economic growth, for an increased police state. Maybe they'll get to pick the size of their grey tunics.

Re:And?

[LichtSpektren]

I'm actually surprised more companies aren't actively wondering just how much Microsoft and others can be controlled by the US government.

It's probably because if you're a big enough player, Microsoft will let you go over any and all of the source code that it has. So if your people can't find an NSA backdoor in the Windows source, your people probably aren't going find one in any other OS's source.

Source code is meaningless if you don't compile the binaries yourself. AFAIK Microsoft has never allowed anybody to do so.

Re:And?

[gstoddart]

Dude, it's turtles all the way down.

If your secret law which requires you to lie about not having backdoors is invoked, you also have to lie about how people can check that you don't have backdoors. The presence of the secret law which says "you can't tell them about this" pretty much means there is no scenario in which you say "oh, well, gee, they're awesome and trustworthy".

By definition, the US government has taken the public stance that results in the conclusion "NO US COMPANY CAN BE TRUSTED".

Because as soon as you assert your laws trump the laws of the countries in which Microsoft etc do business, you essentially force everyone else to have to conclude "fuck you, go away, we now must assume you're not following the law".

I don't care how fucking big of a player you are, when Uncle Sam can compel them to lie ... you must assume they're lying, and that they couldn't tell you they were lying if they wanted to. Auditing about an NSA backdoor can't be trusted if the laws which would place such a hypothetical back door prevent you from admitting to that back door.

If Microsoft loses this case:

The US government's contention is that it can demand electronic data anywhere US companies keep them, and that it doesn't need to ask a local jurisdiction's permission. A magistrate and a federal judge have agreed. If Microsoft doesn't prevail in the appeal, Smith said it will go to the US Supreme Court.

nobody outside of the US can ever trust a US company ever again.

It really is that simple. Claiming auditing fixes this misses the entire point. Auditing in this case is a fucking fairy tale.

Good idea

[LichtSpektren]

Any government interested in keeping its data and secrets safe but runs Windows is likely populated by imbeciles.

Hopefully Russian computer scientists will focus on either making ReactOS a usable replacement (better for us in the West trying to dump Windows), or making their own Linux distro (I suggest they call it... Kremlinux), which will likely be better for them in the long run.

Re:Good idea

[LichtSpektren]

ReactOS is a horrible Windows XP clone, what's the point of that operating system in the 21st century?

Proprietary legacy applications with no *nix support. There's billions of dollars invested in it.

Follow the Chinese

[Your Anus]

They rolled their own Linux distro to get away from Windows.

In Soviet Ru- aww, screw it.

[Penguinisto]

I can actually see a good reason for Russia dumping Windows... a Linux-based system gives them internal control over the source code to the OS they use - they can fork it and do whatever they want with it internally.

The taxation thing? That's just governments doing what governments tend to do - extract more money from those who produce wealth, especially from outside the borders where it's more politically palatable (and in some cases highly desirable). Shit, they've been doing this for as long as the word "tariff" has existed, and the "on a computer" aspect doesn't really make it all that much different.

Not sure if the pimped local options (e.g. Yandex) are any better or worse, though - only the Russian public can ultimately decide that.

Re:From a Russian perspective

[110010001000]

Hell, from ANYONES perspective banning Windows is a really good idea!

Im amazed anoyne wants to use Widnwos

[JustNiz]

Heck I dont even trust Windows/Microsoft for home use. If I was Russia or any Government (including the US) I wouldnâ(TM)t allow any PC with Windows on it at all. Who knows what information Windows (especially 10) is collecting and phoning home with, or how many NSA back doors and just plain stupid security holes it has.

Very good idea.

[bytesex]

"The Russian government is allegedly looking to ban Microsoft's Windows operating system"

Aaaand... that's an extremely good idea. There is an enormous problem and it's called 'Restricted level networks' in governments everywhere; combined, they provide an attacker an enormous treasure trove of information, and they are installed, configured and used by morons^Hnot very apt computer users. To expose yourself additionally to an American company that can just open the floodgates at a simple request out of Washington, is folly.

Re:Banning Windows is like banning Oxygen

[LichtSpektren]

Oxygen constitutes 80% of everything in the atmosphere right now, and is the basis for most common exothermic reactions. But, to be clear, it's not really necessary. There are other oxidizers, and other compounds which many things could be converted over to use. Some applications simply wouldn't be able to run anymore. Like mammals. But that's really just a reason to create new, better organisms from scratch. We know how they work, so it should be pretty easy. Right?

Oxygen is dangerous, even toxic, stuff, and I can absolutely agree that something better is a good idea.

You go first.

You're an imbecile. Plenty of governments, large corporations and other institutions have been able to dump Windows (or never run Windows to begin with) and are doing quite fine.

And who can blame them?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Seriously, who can blame them?

Win 10 is basically spyware, and it would be the NSA's wet dream to have it installed on computers within the Russian government's offices.

I mean, how much easier could it get? No more having to spear-phish Russian officials and trick them into installing malware or spyware, just turn on the "Spy On Me" feature and paw through all their documents, emails, chats, forms, and file stores at will. Download nightly "backups" of their PCs and have a field day.

I don't want Win 10 installed on my PC, and I hardly have any secrets to keep.

Re:"Free as in Freedom"

[Alioth]

For Putin's government, I would say an OS designed to serve Putin's interest is probably a better alternative for Putin - and that's what we're discussing.

Yup

[DMJC]

So many benefits to doing it. Let's assume they take ReactOS: Right now ReactOS has wifi/networking, GPU, and basic desktop support. With 20 Russians hacking on it, they could very quickly implement SAMBA 4.0 on ReactOS, BIND, DHCP and Openchange. That's most of the core windows stack and gets them a usable e-mail, file/print/domain controller. An RDP client/server implementation gets them Windows Terminal Server replaced. Most of this code exists right now, it just needs to be adapted from Unix back to ReactOS.

Re:The obvious direction...

[rtb61]

Most likely a newly minted Linux distribution managed by a government department and an association of Russian universities, quite simply the most logical way for a country to manage it's core operating system. As you pay those Universities to in part manage and develop the operating system (a government department would do the admin and hosting), your fund the professors and incorporate the operating system directly into the students curricula and masters and doctoral students along with professors can make contributions to the operating system and commercially establish their credentials (keeps them on the bleeding edge and in best position to apply their knowledge upon completing the course). This of course should extend to core computer software, the expanded office suite. Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation suite, graphics, animation, database, cad/cam (cad/cam especially because of industrial espionage) and planning software (again because of espionage).

Pretty much any country that wants to be considered independent of foreign corporate dominance (they are foreign to everyone once they become multinationals), should be doing exactly the same thing. When it comes down to global trillion dollar tax fraud and pain and suffering brought about by austerity lies, well, we all know exactly what the honest and just legal response should really be, extended custodial sentences together with confiscation and liquidation of assets (individual and corporate).

Can Russia produce a better OS, why not, they certainly can make a better jet but of course no where near a super profitable as the current US tribute jet (the one countries have to buy or else, nothing more than a blatant tribute demand).

Re:Hillary, is that you?

[KGIII]

The problem with that reasoning is that it's entirely irrational. Yes, some of what you pay for a product goes to pay the taxes. Your income comes from where? Would you say that you employer pays the income taxes for Microsoft when you buy a product from them? The business gets its income from where? Would you say your employer's customers pay your employer, who pays you your salary, who buys Word which portions of the sales price going to the taxes that Microsoft pays? And who pays the person who purchased the products made by your employer?