Linux To Be Installed In Every Russian School 293
J_Omega writes "According to an article from last week at the Russian IT site CNews, Linux is slated to be installed in every Russian school by 2009. The article makes it appear that it will be going by the (unimaginative) name 'Russian OS.' As stated in the article: 'The main aim of the given work is to reduce dependence on foreign commercial software and provide education institutions with the possibility to choose whether to pay for commercial items or to use the software, provided by the government.' Initial testing installations are supposed to begin next year in select districts. Is 2008/09 the year of Linux on the (Russian) desktop?"
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Once you become proficient in using Linux you are having a better understanding of OS and network internals than your Windows-using peers.
Re:Not called "Russian OS" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not called "Russian OS" (Score:2, Informative)
"The software will be called ALTLinux. It is the typical lack of the use of articles in Russian which seems to be confusing the submitter. If written by an English author, the article would have started "A Russian OS..."
TFA actually says:
"The Ministry of Communication Press Service explains the Ministry plans to install Russian OS and alternative program package in every Russian school. The dates to carry out tenders for OS development have not been announced yet, but the tenders are to be held in the near future, the Ministry of Communication informs."
And then introduces this hopeful contender for the development of the software applications to be geared towards classroom use.
"Alexey Smirnov, Director General of the Company ALTLinux which has already announced its desire to put in a bid for the tender to develop alternative software package considers the given terms reasonable."
Re:Not called "Russian OS" (Score:2, Informative)
Now the cat is out of the bag (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What's wrong with the name? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Informative)
This is a reaction towards this long, protracted and phenomenally stupid lawsuit brought by the Russian branch of the BSA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6499843.stm [bbc.co.uk]
In brief: a school in the middle of nowhere was sold computers with pirated windows and office which they believed to be genuine. Instead of going after the manufacturer and the reseller the Russian branch of the BSA went after the headmaster of the school and tried to make him personally criminally responsible. he case got phenomenal adverse publicity and reached to the level of the both Putin and Gorbachev wading in and asking that the real culprit is prosecuted. Instead of that the idiots continued and even tried to invoke the MAFIAA favourite tool of WTO scaremongering.
At this point the Russians did the very Russian thing of making a point in principle. Is the OS suited or not no longer matters in the slightest. They will simply no longer do educational business with Microsoft in principle and this is it.
It is a part of Russian character - you may push them for a very long time and they will do nothing. At one point they will go into "Za nami Rodina, ni shagu nazad (Fatherland is behind us, no further steps back)". This is a point you simply do not want to reach when you negotiate with them and it was reached solely through the BSA stupidity.
This also makes a major difference between the Russian case and similar situations in Asia a few years back. There Microsoft managed to defuse the situation through offering seriously discounted Windows and BilliGatus gifts to education and health. In this case this will not work. It is not a matter of money it is a matter of principle from now on.
Re:Old news? (Score:4, Informative)
You are right - it is related to the teacher. Frankly, Microsoft should have given it a second thought and stopped simulating that it has nothing to do with it especially after both Putin, Gorbi and Zhirik got involved with it. Before that it was a piracy case. Now, after MSFT ignored all political parties from the left to the right end, the current and the past presidents it has become a political issue. It is not a matter of money any more.
Misleading info (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not a balanced starting point (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What's wrong with the name? (Score:1, Informative)
"Bolshevist Russia or Bolshevik Russia is a common term for the Bolshevik side in the Russian Civil War, or more specifically the Russian government between the October Revolution (November 7, 1917) and the establishment of the Soviet Union (December 30, 1922)."
Re:Linus is a Swedish Finn not a Finn Finn (Score:1, Informative)
And Linus Torvalds is most definitely a Finland-Swede (finlandssvensk). He's
said so in plenty of interviews. It's not just because of his grandfather, who if
mentioned, is mentioned because he's one of the most noteworthy Finland-Swedish literary figures of the last century.
Also, Linus speaks Swedish with a Finland-Swedish dialect, not a Finnish accent. I've heard him myself.
Plenty of Finland-Swedes study (and work) at Helsinki Uni. I've met more than a few.
That said, the original post is simply a troll or someone who seems to have difficulty understanding
the difference between nationality and ethnicity.
Try telling a Finn that Mannerheim or Sibelius or Runeberg wasn't Finnish. It'd be like telling an American that George Washington was English.
Re:Linus is a Swedish Finn not a Finn Finn (Score:2, Informative)
He ain't a Swedish Finn but Finn Swedish. Because he was living in Finland and spoke Swedish as home language. If he would live in Sweden and speak Finnish as home language, then he would be Swedish Finn...
Swedish Finn != Finn Swedish
Swedish Finn = Lives in Sweden and speaks Finnish
Finn Swedish = Lives in Finland and speaks Swedish