theinquirer.net — Linux is the clear winner out of a dispute between the Russian legal authorities and schools over who should carry the can over the use of pirated Windows software. Russian schools in the area are so scared about being shipped off to a Siberian Gulag, that they are buying Linux gear instead.
Feb 7, 2007 View in Crawl 4
alevashovFeb 8, 2007
Microsoft President comments on russian school teacher court case<a class="user" href="http://eng.cnews.ru/reviews/indexEn.shtml?2007/02/08/234740">http://eng.cnews.ru/reviews/indexEn.shtml?2007/02/08/234740</a>
hairypoterFeb 8, 2007
I think piracy is wrong, but these guys that command industry are completely clueless about their own business. One example: in the past, one could bought their music in LP's and bring that LP's to other people's house, play them in parties, transfer to tape and send to other people, etc. That was the golden age. LP's sells were skyrocketing, everybody was happy. Then, came the greedy and all those schemes anti-piracy. Never, in the music industry, music was so much controlled as today. What we see today? CD sells are in the lowest point of all time. Music in general is selling too little compared to the seventies. Conclusion: people stop buying when pissed!Another example: Microsoft became a giant, even claiming being target of massive piracy. Then came greedy... Now, what is hapenning with Vista? Vista is so controlled that the user has to ask for permission to poo. Are Vista sales skyrocketing? Nope. According to dealers, 99% of all customers have no interest in upgrading to Vista. Vista costs 400 bucks and represents no advance over XP. Just a few eyecandies in a sad try to copy MacOS X. Greedy companies are pissing customers all over the world and we (customers) are just responding properly.So, long life to Linux in Russia.
rouslanFeb 9, 2007
Great, another wrong move by the Russian authorities, Putin. They have recently instituted stupid laws that actually slow the economy down. Almost all people there buy pirated media; there is no other alternative due to low wages (average $200 per month, even with professions such as doctors, etc.). Perhaps this is to just show the US government that they are doing something in response to the denial of WTO? And they are doing this to schools. Bad move. Linux will solve the problem in this case, I'm hoping the same thing won't happen everywhere in the nation in general-for example, there are no "open-source DVD movies", etc.
illiciumFeb 9, 2007
Xilon: that filemanager is real:<a class="user" href="http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.html">http://www.sgi.com/fun/freeware/3d_navigator.html</a>
curthowlandFeb 9, 2007
Actually, Soviet Russia pirated the IBM 360 mainframe.
miseseanFeb 10, 2007
4. Enlightenment5. Linux
underdog5004Feb 10, 2007
You know, the whole Russian schools totally ditching windows for linux thing? That's probably _not_ what microsoft meant to happen.
gobgarFeb 12, 2007
I knew a friend of mine who lived in Russia when Windows XP first came out. He said that on the highway there were advertisements for Windows XP all over the place, and on each one people had posted lists and lists of valid CD keys. He pulled over, grabbed a few, and crossed them off the list =)