Putin Orders Russian Move To GNU/Linux

Glyn Moody writes "Vladimir Putin has signed an order calling for Russian federal authorities to move to GNU/Linux, and for the creation of 'a single repository of free software used in the federal bodies of executive power.' There have been a number of Russian projects to roll out free software, notably in the educational sector, but none so far has really taken off. With the backing of Putin, could this be the breakthrough free software has been waiting for?"

Re:American

[Cidolfas]

The murder/arrest/expulsion of journalists and news sources who disagree with you? That's a big one for me.

Re:GNU?

[ralphdaugherty]

Did Putin really say "GNU/Linux" or just Linux?

Putin's order didn't even say Linux. Says free software. Free as in speech. They already use free as in beer.

"could this be the breakthrough...

[John Hasler]

...free software has been waiting for?"

No. Free Software has not been waiting for anything.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[ladoga]

Stuxnet had nothing to do with windows. It attacked motor controller chips made by Seimans.

It used four zero day vulnerabilities in Windows and the Siemens PLC's (that controls the VFDs) control interface runs on Windows.

Re:Good luck managing that LAN

[alcourt]

A coworker of mine rolled out several years ago a robust, audit hardened user management framework for Unix systems that does very well in audits that Active Directory routinely fails. This sits on an estimated 20k-30k Unix based systems of multiple flavors.

AD does not have a built in framework for account validation (asking appropriate authorities, does this account still need to exist?). The role based concepts are relatively primitive. There is no capability to preserve the authorization record for granting access. All of those concepts have to be added on.

Actually deploying accounts, nothing beats actual local accounts. The trick is to have a robust agent that actually manages those accounts.

I've reviewed some of the various enterprise grade products, and none of them did as well as this self-built product.

Most products for user management simply have no mind to the audits, only pretty pictures. There is rarely even any logging of value.

AD is really nothing more than LDAP + Kerberos with a pretty GUI. It simply should never be considered adequate in and of itself for user management because it does not address several key requirements of the area.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[Grishnakh]

Someone please mod this idiot down.

From http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic [gnu.org]:

Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public?

        The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.

Re:Putin and freedom !!??

[tftp]

It's called the FSB now, and they may well insert backdoors in code

Even KGB in worst times (70's-80's) wasn't that paranoid. There was no wholesale spying on people. In East Germany Erich Honecker did that; but in USSR KGB knew their foe, and the foe knew that. Everyone else lived their lives and didn't care about KGB. If you did something untoward KGB would actually summon you "for a talk" first, and only if you persist then harsher measures would be used.