Russia to adopt Linux as national operating system by 2015
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Although OS X has made great strides in the last half decade in regaining market share, the various permutations of Windows still rule most of the computing world, largely thanks to the reliance of enterprise and government networks. Now one of the largest and most powerful countries on Earth is ready to dump Microsoft as a client, and make no mistake… it’s a move indicative of a growing schism with the United States similar to that we experienced in the Cold War.
The country we’re talking about here is Russia, who plans to transition its computer infrastructure from Windows to open-source operating systems like Linux. The order was given by none less than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who wants the transition completed by 2015… and who also wants to create a national repository for open-source applications similar to Apple’s App Store.
When we mentioned the Cold War earlier in this post, we didn’t mean to imply that Russia’s adoption of Linux would somehow lead to global nuclear war. However, it;s undeniable that Russia and America’s diplomatic relations have been frosty lately, especially when it comes to arms talks. Given that, Russia’s move to divorce its IT infrastructure from relying upon an American company’s operating system seems like another small step away from relying upon America.
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Very interesting topic for discussion...
Why did Russia decide to do this inspite of the huge costs it will require to
1.train workforce
2.Acquire proper licenses(isn't Linux free though?)
3.Develop user-friendly apps for Linux
Is it because Russia deems a closed source foreign software as a threat to it's security?
or is it because government wants to spend the money locally instead of paying to foreign commercial companies and thus help local software companies grow?
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