Russia Developing A Russian National Operating System (RNOS)…

Now I think that all countries should have their own Operating System (OS) that they run everything on in the government. It just makes sense and the cost would be tremendously cheaper after the initial set up. It seems that Russia has been busy trying to implement a Russian OS that would allow them to be free of the overhead of the licensing nightmare that accompanies outside software usage…

Russia’s Communications and Mass Media Ministry is determined to create a Russian National Operating System (OS).  The first Russian OS version may appear as early as 2011. It will not be built from scratch, however; it will be derived 90 percent from Linux. Then later on, the ministry expects the share of domestic contributions to increase. In early 2011, the government will stage a tender for a contract to build a full-fledged national operating system, which may appear around 2013. It is presumed that the operating system will be deployed in ministries and governmental agencies, but they will still have a choice whether to use the national OS or a foreign one.

I have been hearing rumors about this for several years. It started out as a 100% Linux project to remove any issues with Windows OS legalities.

But Microsoft has been giving base code to Russia over the last few years. There has been some concern from the Western side of the world but as Microsoft has stated, all code has been protected and is properly managed…

Does that mean that Microsoft is trying to get more of their code involved in this development? Does Russia have a right to use Microsoft code as they see fit?

There has been issues in the past that have not fared well for Microsoft in Russia and most people say just kick it out of the system…

In fact, it has been reported that a program is underway and is replacing Microsoft OS with Linux software at Russian schools across the country. This became a huge issue after a case that involved a teacher in Russia using unlicensed Windows OS on school computers. Even though Microsoft was not the instigator of said issues and wished that all would have stayed buried. Microsoft got the raw end of the deal in Russia…

Since incidents like that, Microsoft has been very cooperative with Russia and transfer of source code data has happened several times…

I find it interesting the things that transpire in the world and we really know very little about what is really going on behind those closed doors…

Windows to Russia!