“If the Cold War Soviet mindset was known for nothing else, it
was known for secrecy. Today’s Russian government also seems set on
maintaining as much secrecy as possible, at least about its IT
infrastructure. This isn’t surprising considering Russian President
Vladimir Putin and most of his ministry heads are former KGB
operatives.“But recently, there has been evidence of Linux use in the
Russian government. Earlier this year, Sergei Antimonov, director
general of Russian anti-virus company DialogueScience, Inc., said
the Russian Ministry of Defense and other government institutions
were looking at using ‘Open Source Unix-like operating systems’ and
related software in near future. ‘There are three reasons:
security, price and openness,’ Antimonov says.“Putin may be the stimulus to make Open Source the ubiquitous IT
infrastructure in Russia, according to Viacheslav Kaloshin,
technical manager, for IP-Tel Company. Kaloshin says Putin is
outspoken about his desire to end the country’s dependence on
Western software production by building up Russian
development…”
Related Story:
Reuters: Kremlin’s New Web Site Stands Up to Hacker Threats(Jun
22, 2002)