Russia Says Goodbye to Microsoft OS

Russia is saying do svidaniya, or goodbye, to Microsoft as its operating system. The government has said it is spending 150 million rubles, about US$4.5 million, to develop a "national" operating system, based on the open source Linux OS, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

The goal from the switch, ordered by Russia's Ministry of Communications, is to rid state computers of Microsoft's Windows OS with the goals of saving money, improving security and reducing dependence on foreign software giants, the Monitor reported.

The switch, first ordered three years ago, largely went unnoticed by the public and media, and is supposed to be finished by the end of this year.

Yet Viktor Tsygankov, an analyst with the Russian branch of the International Data Corp., an IT consulting firm, told the newspaper that current existing Linux systems would have been just fine and "this is just unnecessary, in my personal opinion."