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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.
A re-branded version of some popular Linux distro...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
What's the downside?
http://chimpbox.us
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.
They rolled their own Linux distro to get away from Windows.
In the USA, we like stuff watered down, like beer, television, and freedom.
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.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
You know which one
Hell, from ANYONES perspective banning Windows is a really good idea!
With the baby boomers retiring, the work force getting smaller, and Social Security/Medicare consuming two-thirds of the federal budget in the next 20 years, someone will have to pay for all those taxes. Since corporations are people, they can pay their fare share.
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.
"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.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
I disgree. I think Windows is both seriously crap for usability and inherently very insecure when compared to most Linux distros, and who knows what info Microsoft (and therefore the US gov) can/is using Windows to collect/phone home with.
Factor in that Linux is free (in both senses), has inspectable source code, is more standards-compliant and supports more hardware, and has more free professional-grade apps, and the decision is (or should be) a complete no-brainer, especially for governments.
In fact it boggles my mind why anyone is still choosing to use Windows for anything at all, except maybe gaming, and then only because many games devs still dont make Linux versions of AAA games, although tthat seems to be (too slowly for me) changing too.
Excuse me. But, oxygen is 21% of our atmosphere. You're thinking of nitrogen, which is close to to 80%, at 78% of our air.
He is an old KBG agent. You can bet your life on him being paranoid beyond what is healthy.
He doesn't run anything that he doesn't have full control over and he doesn't care about idealism.
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.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
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.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
My guesses:
1) Basically, Windows is dead. Countries will have to move away from using Microsoft products, since Microsoft has shown it cannot be trusted in ANY way. For example: Windows 10 phones home (A LOT) even with all reporting and telemetry disabled.
2) Microsoft wants to make money in the Facebook and Google way. Microsoft plans to mine all user data on all computers connected to the internet and sell the information.
3) The reason there will be no more versions of Windows is that Microsoft will do what Adobe Systems has done: Force users to move to a subscription model.
4) Windows users will isolate Windows from the internet, and use Linux on a different network with a cheap 2nd computer to connect to the internet. (But how to allow information interchange between the 2 networks?)
5) In response to users isolating Windows from the internet, Microsoft will make Windows stop working after a few days of no internet connection. Adobe Systems does that, in my experience, with CS6. (CS6 is the last version before the forced move to a subscription model.)
6) Satya Nadella, the new Microsoft CEO, was chosen because he was the least annoying candidate. He is apparently not the real controlling manager, but only someone to advertise.
7) Microsoft has a contract with secret U.S. government agencies to make Windows into what users consider to be malware.
8) Because Microsoft often releases buggy software, possibly because it is paid to do so by secret U.S. government agencies, Windows 10, with its many ways to connect to the internet, is now FAR less secure than before.
Not a guess, because verified by others: Microsoft is shockingly badly managed. The cover of the January 16, 2013 issue of BusinessWeek magazine has a large photo of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer with the headline calling him "Monkey Boy". See the BusinessWeek cover in this article: Steve Ballmer Is No Longer A Monkey Boy, Says Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The BusinessWeek cover says "No More" and "Mr.", but that doesn't take much away from the fact that the magazine called Ballmer Monkey Boy -- on its cover.
Slashdot commenters called Ballmer "Monkey Boy" for years before BusinessWeek called him that on the cover of its magazine.
Worst CEO in the United States: Quote from an article in Forbes Magazine about Steve Ballmer: "Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today." Another quote: "The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value -- and jobs." (May 12, 2012)
Pubuntu.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
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.
A few of the many stories about backdoors in U.S. hardware:
D-Link: Reverse Engineering a D-Link Backdoor (Oct. 12, 2013)
Arris: 600,000 Arris cable modems have 'backdoors in backdoors', researcher claims (Nov. 20, 2015)
Juniper Networks: Juniper drops NSA-developed code following new backdoor revelations (Jan. 10, 2016)
Cisco: Snowden: The NSA planted backdoors in Cisco products (May 15, 2014)
Netgear: Netgear Patch Said to Leave Backdoor Problem in Router (April 23, 2014)
Windows 8: NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered (Aug. 22, 2013)
Windows: NSA "backdoor" mandates lead to a computer-security FREAK show Quote: "Microsoft Windows OS vulnerable to hackers, thanks to National Security Agency requirements." (March 6, 2015)
Windows: NSA Built Back Door In All Windows Software by 1999 (June 7, 2013)
Hard drives: Breaking: Kaspersky Exposes NSA's Worldwide, Backdoor Hacking of Virtually All Hard-Drive Firmware (Feb. 17, 2015)
Is every backdoor the work of the NSA? There is no way of knowing.
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?
"So long and thanks for all the fish."