Clonk.
Another one bites the dust. (Or several hundreds of thousands...)
The Russian government says it is looking to dump Microsoft and adopt Linux as the operating system for agency PCs. In an interview with Bloomberg, Russian internet advisor German Klimenko said the state will consider moving all of its networks off the Microsoft platform and onto an unspecified Linux build instead. Citing …
"Another one bites the dust. (Or several hundreds of thousands...)"
Like Levis jeans in the past - The Russians will just have to make do with inferior local products instead...
"guess Russian will keep on using pirated copies of Windows, though..."
This being Russia, probably they were not paying for any of the licences.
The Russian government is doing this so it can spy on itself ...
This is Russia you are talking about. The country which historically has been more institutionally paranoid than any other, not always without justification.
But yes, their primary motivation will be to stop Redmond and the USA government from spying on the Russian government. It's obviously become too hard for them to work out what Windows is up to, for them to continue using it as a channel for dis-informing Washington.
"linux" is just a Western copy of North Korea's operating system "ilnux", which was originally written by Kim Jong-il.
Re: Next....
'In my circle of friends it's been the year of Linux on the desktop (laptop rather) for years now. I don't really care about the rest of the world :)'
Microsoft must be shitting themselves. Not
What's the percentage of Linux usage on the desktop again? What's the chances it'll rise to 1.5% before the decade is out?
"What's the percentage of Linux usage on the desktop again? What's the chances it'll rise to 1.5% before the decade is out?"
Depends how you define "desktop" and Linux. If you mean on the actual physical desk, then the slump in PC sales and the massive influx of Android tablets over recent years, often multiple tablets in a family replacing a single family PC, then maybe sooner than you think :-)
17 Mints later and it's still the year of the rat.
Been stuck in a time warp? Belated happy new year, it's been the Year of the Monkey for five days now...
However, you may be right, the next year of the rat (2020) may be the year of hte Linux desktop, as it is also the year Win7 goes EoL...
[Glass filled with a Chinese beverage appropriate for celebrating the new year.]
"It's like a wife seeing her husband with another woman – he can swear an oath afterward, but the trust is lost," Klimenko was quoted as saying.
So France will not be ditching Windows for Linux then?
On a more serious note, I can see Russia developing a state-sponsored bespoke Linux distro. They could call it Rodinux.
With their own snooping software that phones the Kremlin, not Redmond...
So you are a small British manufacturing something exportable that involves a few minor trade secrets. Who would you prefer to be grabbing all your data?
1. The USA
2. Uk.gov
3. Russia
4. China
5. Brazil (but you'll have to learn Portuguese first)
6. Most of the above.
"although Munich has since switchted back, because TCO was more expensive than Windows ISTR."
Care to post a ref. to that ! AFAIK that is nonsense
Latest I could find : http://news.softpedia.com/news/german-city-that-replaced-windows-with-linux-to-ditch-latest-windows-xp-2000-pcs-499160.shtml
Try these:
http://www.heise.de/open/meldung/LiMux-Muenchner-CSU-will-auf-Laptops-von-Linux-zurueck-zu-Windows-2787042.html
http://www.heise.de/open/meldung/LiMux-Neuer-Wirbel-um-Linux-in-Muenchen-2486075.html
http://www.welt.de/regionales/bayern/article132976293/Stadt-Muenchen-will-von-Linux-zurueck-zu-Microsoft.html
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchner-stadtverwaltung-von-microsoft-zu-linux-und-zurueck-1.2090611
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/gadgets/linux-auf-behoerden-pc-muenchen-vor-umstieg-auf-windows-a-995546.html
Only partially related to spyware.
As a result of the sanctions regime Microsoft cannot sell Windows, services and support to the Russian government. This would have had little effect in the days of 95-2000 and up to XP or thereabouts as you could power it up without the net. From Vista/7 onwards the "need to be on the net" functionality is so pervasive that it is practically impossible to have a PC which does not phone home (this is the only spyware relationship here). From there on it is license violation and mandatory lockdown by MSFT. If it does not do that for all cases where it has determined that a PC is used in a setting disallowed by USA sanctions it is looking at BN size fines.
So it looks like they definitely remote-bricked enough PCs to get the Russians p*ssed. In theory, it will make both sides put their money where their mouth is. Russia to actually develop its economy and local industry (as proclaimed by Putin) and MSFT not doing business with sanctions entities.
In practice, I would not be so sure. It is quite likely that the sanctions will be worked around via a thrid party laundry mechanism the same way as they were circumvented for Iran using Chinese resellers.
What does Windows 7 do that requires phoning home? LAN adaptor icon, device and printer icons, notify MS of crashes and display resolutions, CEIP, Windows Defender, Windows Update. All of which can be turned off except LAN adaptor and there's probably a registry hack for that.
Not counting the recent telemetry updates which can be blocked.
>Not counting the recent telemetry updates which can be blocked for the time being
And that's where I have a problem with what MS is doing. If they asked the user if they wanted to install the telemetry features and left it at that, it would be fine - an unwanted feature for me, but that's ok. My problem is their shovelling it down my throat as if they own my PC and have a right to the telemetry and random documents of mine. I don't have much to hide, but I don't want that shift in the paradigm regarding who controls my PC.
All fine if you are a sys admin, or a big IT team for roll outs.
But, for the average computer literate user, the problem is knowing what snooping software is installed, or planned to be installed in a future auto update.
The Xbox One is a prime example..... the camera always on and transmitting - in your own home... always on!!
Probably one of the contributing reasons why it's launch was a flop, once this fact became highlighted.
Their proffered solution was to unplug the camera each time you switched off.
What the hell is going on there?
What does Windows 7 do that requires phoning home?
You missed the point.
If it calls home as apart of Windows Update. If it does this using a serial number or source IP address which Microsoft does not like they brick it. In fact, they started doing it with Windows XP. I happen to have an Eastern European pirated XP SP3 build on a CD somewhere which I use to demonstrate it to "unbelievers". You install it, it works fine. You run Windows Update and it gets bricked. You initially get the "this is pirated, buy windows warnings", then it stops functioning altogether.