Outside the Beltway

And Alaskans Will See the Blue Screens From Their Houses!

Alex Knapp
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Russia is creating a national operating system for their computers to compete with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. I’d say this probably wouldn’t work, but given the corporatist nature of the Russian state at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if lots of Russian businesses “patriotically adopt” the new system.

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11 responses to “And Alaskans Will See the Blue Screens From Their Houses!”

  1. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    They’re not creating something to compete with Linux. They’re replacing Windows with Linux. They’re just going to spend some money to build their own Linux distro.

    Replacing Windows with Linux is pretty much always a good idea.

  2. Alex Knapp Avatar
    Alex Knapp

    I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a Linux distro or just using some Linux source code.

    Replacing Windows with Linux is pretty much always a good idea.

    Unless you play games, that is. 🙂

  3. Trumwill Avatar
    Trumwill

    I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a Linux distro or just using some Linux source code.

    My understanding was that it was going to be the latter.

    Unless you play games, that is.

    Or if you want to use Microsoft Office. Or if you want to watch Netflix stream over the web. Or if you don’t want to have to worry about supported hardware drivers.

  4. Davebo Avatar
    Davebo

    I’m a geek and love Linux. But unless the population of Russia is made up entirely of geeks like me, this is a bad idea.

    Then again, why should Russia care if only geeks can get email and internet?

  5. sam Avatar
    sam

    “Unless you play games, that is. :)”

    Yeah, but you can dual boot and then get the hell out of hell when the game is over. Or, better, run Wine…(Well, I’m not that sure about that last, been a long time since I ran Wine — has it improved enough to run games?)

  6. john personna Avatar
    john personna

    The better Linux distributions have proven themselves entirely adequate.

  7. sam Avatar
    sam

    Here ya go:

    Wine HQ Application Database:

    There are 15537 applications currently in the database, with Final Fantasy XI Online Windows Client W00 being the top voted application.

  8. sam Avatar
    sam

    Looks like Microsoft Office will run under Wine, on Ubuntu anyway, see

    How to Install Microsoft Office on Ubuntu Linux

  9. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    I’m a geek and love Linux. But unless the population of Russia is made up entirely of geeks like me, this is a bad idea.

    You’re apparently a geek that hasn’t quite kept up with the development of Linux, I guess. Install Ubuntu and tell me Linux hasn’t dramatically improved in terms of usability and compatibility.

    Or if you want to use Microsoft Office.

    You can use Wine to install Office on Linux. Or you can use Open Office, which does the same stuff better, and free. Just like Linux.

    Or if you want to watch Netflix stream over the web.

    You think this only works on Windows? There are a number of browsers besides IE, and Netflix works on most of them (Firefox, Chrome, etc.). These are available for any OS. And you can install IE on Linux with Wine if you really want a crap browser.

    Or if you don’t want to have to worry about supported hardware drivers.

    Yeah, because Windows is so great about hardware compatibility! Seriously, this is not the problem it was in the old Linux distros. Keep up.

    Unless you play games, that is. 🙂

    This is true. That’s why I have a dual boot machine with Ubuntu and Windows XP. I use Windows to play games, and that’s pretty much it. Game manufacturers are starting to develop for different platforms (Steam is on Mac now, etc.), but it can be prohibitively expensive to develop for small markets. If more people switch from Windows, the game companies will ramp up their efforts.

  10. Alex Knapp Avatar
    Alex Knapp

    mantis,

    I like Ubuntu. I used to run Ubuntu, but I had to switch to Windows 7 for several reasons:

    (a) No Netflix streaming. This isn’t a browser issue. It’s the fact that Netflix streaming uses Microsoft Silverlight, and there’s no Linux compatibility there. (No, not through Wine, either.)

    (b) Lack of games support.

    (c) Lack of support for several different online meeting platforms I use for business, particularly Adobe Connect. (No, they don’t work through Wine.)

    I had planned on re-installing Ubuntu on my machine to have a dual-boot system, but Windows 7 is fast and stable enough that I just don’t see the need.

    I do use OpenOffice, though.

  11. mantis Avatar
    mantis

    No Netflix streaming. This isn’t a browser issue. It’s the fact that Netflix streaming uses Microsoft Silverlight, and there’s no Linux compatibility there. (No, not through Wine, either.)

    Not a problem! Just install Moonlight.

    Lack of support for several different online meeting platforms I use for business, particularly Adobe Connect. (No, they don’t work through Wine.)

    Ah. I’ve never used Adobe Connect. It’s true that there aren’t solutions for everything on Linux. Yet.

    My wife, who teaches IT, keeps telling me that Windows 7 is better than older versions, but i don’t see any need for it right now. If XP is insufficient for games I want to play in the future, I may have to upgrade.

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