Russia developing a Windows alternative

With the aim of reducing their dependence on Windows, Russia has decided to develop their own operating system.

The Russian government has confirmed that they wish to develop their own operating system through a national computer systems project for which they have set aside a budget of 150 million rubbles for 2011, the equivalent of 4.9 million dollars.

Interviewed by the AFP, a Russian Member of Parliament and computer expert, Ilia Ponomarev indicated that this operating system would allow Russia to reduce their dependency on Microsoft and their Windows OS.

This new Russian OS will be based on a Linux core and will be used by all of the countries ministries. It won’t be an adaptation of an already existing Linux distribution, with the work planned to be a lot more in depth.

Ilia Ponomarev stated this relatively strange phrase: "The devil is in the details. We will become independent of Windows ... but it risks becoming an unthinking implantation of Linux.” These details were provided in December during a meeting with the Russian deputy prime minister.

Be it due to the payments of licenses or better security over which they will have greater control, Russia wants to get away from Windows. Recently, India also announced that they wished to develop their own operating system.