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Interesting, and I suppose unsurprising, that they seem to be choosing a home-grown Linux variant. Are there companies in Russia capable of supporting a governm

Interesting, and I suppose unsurprising, that they seem to be choosing a home-grown Linux variant. Are there companies in Russia capable of supporting a government-wide Linux rollout? I'd doubt it. RedHat or Canonical might be able to manage this with their experience doing this at scale, but of course with the current economic sanctions they aren't options. I can't imagine this going well for Russia, particularly at a time when one would have thought they want stability wherever they can find it. I'm in favour though as anything that might hinder or detract from their war efforts is probably a good idea.

Iolaum 4y ago
I 'd say there is knowhow in Russia to do this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_Linux
- arprocter 4y ago
  Google translate - https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/5570730?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/5570730?_x_tr_s... The article mentions Astra and Red OS
- danpalmer 4y ago
  My concern is less about the technology – making a Linux distro isn't a ton of work – it's more about the experience deploying at scale and transforming Windows processes to Linux ones. They have quotes from people involved in the project in the article, but it doesn't sound like there are many or any large players in this space in Russia.
  - yucky 4y ago
    I think the Astra Linux link was an answer to the question though. Not because it was built in Russia, but because it's already long been deployed in some of their highest security environments. It's what already runs in many of their highest value government departments. It sounds like they're just rolling it out to their lower level departments as well.
tablespoon 4y ago
> Are there companies in Russia capable of supporting a government-wide Linux rollout? I'm not sure about companies, but they probably have the talent. I work with a lot of Russian contractors, and when the war in Ukraine started the ones who didn't relocate out of Russia were laid off, so they might be looking for work and available to work on a project like this.

Iolaum 4y ago

I 'd say there is knowhow in Russia to do this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_Linux

arprocter 4y ago
Google translate - https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/5570730?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/5570730?_x_tr_s... The article mentions Astra and Red OS
danpalmer 4y ago
My concern is less about the technology – making a Linux distro isn't a ton of work – it's more about the experience deploying at scale and transforming Windows processes to Linux ones. They have quotes from people involved in the project in the article, but it doesn't sound like there are many or any large players in this space in Russia.
- yucky 4y ago
  I think the Astra Linux link was an answer to the question though. Not because it was built in Russia, but because it's already long been deployed in some of their highest security environments. It's what already runs in many of their highest value government departments. It sounds like they're just rolling it out to their lower level departments as well.

tablespoon 4y ago

> Are there companies in Russia capable of supporting a government-wide Linux rollout? I'm not sure about companies, but they probably have the talent. I work with a lot of Russian contractors, and when the war in Ukraine started the ones who didn't relocate out of Russia were laid off, so they might be looking for work and available to work on a project like this.