Russian schools consider switch to linux

[chestnut1969]

Interesting article

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/02/08/russian-schools-consider-switch-to-linux

[Brunellus]

. . . for about as long as it takes for MSFT to offer them a 90% rebate.

[rocknrolf77]

. . . for about as long as it takes for MSFT to offer them a 90% rebate.

Don't think so. The school is going to court because of pirated windows. Don't think they have a good relationship with micosoft anymore. :-k

[Brunellus]

Don't think so. The school is going to court because of pirated windows. Don't think they have a good relationship with micosoft anymore. :-k
MSFT would rather lose a bit of profit than lose users and their continued marketshare dominance. Watch: everything will be nice and Windows-ey in Russia for a good while to come

[Kateikyoushi]

. . . for about as long as it takes for MSFT to offer them a 90% rebate.

Which is why most of the time linux is brought up unfortunately.

[prizrak]

MSFT would rather lose a bit of profit than lose users and their continued marketshare dominance. Watch: everything will be nice and Windows-ey in Russia for a good while to come

Actually Russian Linux vendors have been on the rise lately. You have to take into account how Russia operates when it comes to computers.

1) The technical education level is pretty high in the general population since Russian schools emphasize math and science.

2) Computers are still mostly used by what you would call power users/programmers/geeks. Even though the economy is improving and prices for hardware are dropping, it's still a very hobby/business thing.

3) Russians are fed up with Windows, MS and the way US does it's business. You won't find a country that makes more Windows/Gates jokes.

4) Schools never really had computers up till now so there is no vendor lock in.

Basically there is a very low barrier to entry and cost of switching when it comes to Russia. There are excellent local distributions (I used to use one before Ubuntu and it was great) that don't have inflated hardware requirements. Couple that with mostly "geeky" computer users and general distrust for MS/US and you have a great place to switch to Linux.

[mykalreborn]

1) The technical education level is pretty high in the general population since Russian schools emphasize math and science.


it's true in russia - and pretty much the whole of eastern europe, in romania too - we do a lot of maths and science. but you would be surprised of how few people actually know these things. everyone just cheats on tests, and generally just gets much bigger grades than they would deserve. not to mention the skipping of clases.
so people are not techies or anything like that. that's why i find it quite not-fessable for russia to start using linux

edit:
i thought you were fromn ny, but then i saw your signature. correct me if i'm wrong :D

[prizrak]

it's true in russia - and pretty much the whole of eastern europe, in romania too - we do a lot of maths and science. but you would be surprised of how few people actually know these things. everyone just cheats on tests, and generally just gets much bigger grades than they would deserve. not to mention the skipping of clases.
so people are not techies or anything like that. that's why i find it quite not-fessable for russia to start using linux

edit:
i thought you were fromn ny, but then i saw your signature. correct me if i'm wrong :D

I live in NY now. You would actually be surprised how much knowledge is retained even with cheating and such. I coasted through HS in the states on math/science I learned in junior hight in Russia without paying a whole lot of attention to it. Generally speaking though Eastern Europe is very receptive of new technology since it lacked the ability to get any for a long time. While people aren't necessarily techies they still don't see a computer as an appliance and realize it will take time/effort to learn.

[mykalreborn]

While people aren't necessarily techies they still don't see a computer as an appliance and realize it will take time/effort to learn.

i still can't see russians schools using linux. maybe it's just me. :D

[Sammi]

This is just one more of those things that we Linux users just WANT to believe in. We HOPE it's true so much, that it clouds our judgement.

[Brunellus]

This is just one more of those things that we Linux users just WANT to believe in. We HOPE it's true so much, that it clouds our judgement.
I agree.

[prizrak]

I agree.

Actually if they go with ASP Linux I can see it being quite feasible. It's a very easy to use distribution.

[Brunellus]

Actually if they go with ASP Linux I can see it being quite feasible. It's a very easy to use distribution.
we'll see.

I'm gratified to see Linux used as a stick to beat microsoft with--but I'll be really impressed when things really roll out. Microsoft knows what's good for it: they will fight to keep their customers even if it means a loss leader to begin wtih.

[bailout]

If linux is ever to grow beyond a niche geek toy it will be because of spreading in some of these newer markets like Russia/China/India. Unfortunately the piracy of MS products makes this unlikely and will establish MS's monoply there. To stand any chance I think it would need governments to decide they want to avoid getting locked into MS and force Linux into schools and government etc.

[prizrak]

we'll see.

I'm gratified to see Linux used as a stick to beat microsoft with--but I'll be really impressed when things really roll out. Microsoft knows what's good for it: they will fight to keep their customers even if it means a loss leader to begin wtih.

The reason I am cautiously optimistic is because of Putin's general political stance when it comes to foreign dependance. He is very interested in making Russia a self sufficient economy not dependant on any foreign products/investments (more or less the only country with enough resources within it's borders to actually pull it off). I can very much see him mandating the schools to use a Russian made distribution (there are a couple) just to not be dependant on MS.

[n64bomb]

Actually Russian Linux vendors have been on the rise lately. You have to take into account how Russia operates when it comes to computers.

1) The technical education level is pretty high in the general population since Russian schools emphasize math and science.

2) Computers are still mostly used by what you would call power users/programmers/geeks. Even though the economy is improving and prices for hardware are dropping, it's still a very hobby/business thing.

3) Russians are fed up with Windows, MS and the way US does it's business. You won't find a country that makes more Windows/Gates jokes.

4) Schools never really had computers up till now so there is no vendor lock in.

Basically there is a very low barrier to entry and cost of switching when it comes to Russia. There are excellent local distributions (I used to use one before Ubuntu and it was great) that don't have inflated hardware requirements. Couple that with mostly "geeky" computer users and general distrust for MS/US and you have a great place to switch to Linux.



people said this same crap in china, and we lost china to microsoft. i really hope the 3 pilot testing areas in russia in 2008 go well and they tell microsoft to go somewhere where the sun doesn't shine. linux needs 1 victory to propell more developers and start to really stir up some government interest. i was saddened to see the $3 deal from microsoft again; everyone said linux would break through in china, and now, after the $3 license deal, bill gates is looked at as a hero in china!! the prime minister of china even visited bill gates' house this year!! just my 0.02 .... i really want linux to succeed, but the russian government is going to really have to step up to the plate

[madjr]

people said this same crap in china, and we lost china to microsoft. i really hope the 3 pilot testing areas in russia in 2008 go well and they tell microsoft to go somewhere where the sun doesn't shine. linux needs 1 victory to propell more developers and start to really stir up some government interest. i was saddened to see the $3 deal from microsoft again; everyone said linux would break through in china, and now, after the $3 license deal, bill gates is looked at as a hero in china!! the prime minister of china even visited bill gates' house this year!! just my 0.02 .... i really want linux to succeed, but the russian government is going to really have to step up to the plate

if you want a victory you should see what's going on in Brazil and part of Spain. Also, Great Britain has said no to windows Vista/Office07 and may go pure FOSS (but we'll have to see)

oh and Vienna.... umm, nevermind...

[SupaSonic]

Just a few more comments on the story: it was all over the news at some point. The teacher actually didn't know these copies of Windows were illegal, he just installed the ones shipped to him. I don't remember who shipped them, but still. His case made no sense.

Anyway, you have to remember that for many russian schools, especially rural ones the word Microsoft doesn't mean a thing. So it's all possible if they can find enough tech support to pull it off. Russia is big after all, and you find people that don't care at any level of administration.

Their new president tries to look modern and progressive when it comes to Internet and Linux, but by his statements I'd say he has no idea what he is talking about.

[prizrak]

I frequent a Russian version of bash.org (bash.org.ru for the interested) and there are actually quite a few quotes there along the lines of "I switched the company to Linux and the only complaint I got was lack of Solitaire, installed Solitaire and now it's fine"

Russia has not been exposed to computers as much as the West has been. For the most part a PC is still something that is used in the office or by IT professionals/programmers. They are the ones who actually drives IT adoption in the country and are very likely to adopt Linux especially since there are a few very good local distributions.

Like I said cautiously optimistic...

[n64bomb]

if you want a victory you should see what's going on in Brazil and part of Spain. Also, Great Britain has said no to windows Vista/Office07 and may go pure FOSS (but we'll have to see)

oh and Vienna.... umm, nevermind...

i know, i have a friend who was an exchange student from brazil, and they are creating 53,000 computer labs with linux. the linux community just needs the surge to get it known, and then microsoft will have essentially hanged themselves. i heard the main suppliers of computers have merged and are more "responsive" to linux after considering the school switch. i really hope this pans out, because we aren't just talking about the schools; if the kids use the computers in the classroom, they will install linux at home, and more russian programmers will contribute to the kernel, and so on