The “National operating system” hype is going on. A common understanding is to develop a Russian Linux distribution “independently from western countries”. The term is so blatant that it appears to be used in quotes even by supporters.
“The developers-to-be of the “National operating system” might be supported by federal funding,” reports CNews. “Gosduma [the parliament] is preparing a letter [a call for funding] to Dmitry Medvedev.”
The Gosduma committee on “national security of IT” is headed by Ilya Ponomarev, a neo-Bolshevist. Next week the draft of the letter is to be agreed upon parties, among which are ALT Linux, Microsoft, and FSB (former KGB).
Sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it?
“Alexey Smirnov, the head of ALT Linux, explains why the “National OS” is important for military forces and civil state: “The OS can be called a National if the state has rights to distribute and modify it and, as a customer [the one who orders the OS], can influence [and control] the development of the OS. Today, there are no such systems that can satisfy all of these requirements, neither free nor proprietary ones.” Smirnov suggest that, in its first stage, the “National OS” project will be base [the term "base" is unclear and cannot be translated appropriately]: “Without the “National OS” coming first, no “National hardware” can be developed.” A sheer consequence of the “free model”, would it be accepted, is that “the more Russia contributes to free software [worldwide], the more Russia influences [and controls] the free software movement”, says Smirnov.”
