14 DAY TRIAL // Russia is one of the countries that are trying to give up on Microsoft software completely, so the country is struggling to reduce orders for Windows and other products developed by the American firm.
And according to statistics provided by the Association of Electronic Trading Platforms (AETP), the country is really serious about reducing its dependency on Microsoft software, so in the July-August period it reduced the number of Windows licenses.
ITAR-TASS news agency suggests that Russia’s intention to move to a new operating system could be a result of the growing tension between the country and the West, as both the United States and European states are imposing new sanctions following the conflict in Ukraine.
Of course, Russia would need years to get off Windows, but this is clearly a thing that can be done, with authorities in Munich pretty much serving as living proof that Linux can easily replace Microsoft’s operating system on state computers.
Only 7 orders for Windows in July-August
While Russia is still using Windows, the country is planning a mass transition to a Linux-based operating system, and statistics provided by the aforementioned source reveal that local authorities are already speeding up the migration.
In July-August, Russian departments submitted only 7 orders for Microsoft Windows, down from 31 orders in the same period of last year.
“The fall in the volume of state orders of Windows operating systems may be linked to the aggravation of relations between Russia and the West. We would like to remind that Russia’s Communications and Mass Media Ministry is studying an option to completely substitute software imports in the coming five to seven years,” the AETP was quoted as saying.
China planning to do the same thing
China is another country that’s also trying to switch from Windows to Linux, but in this case, the transition is even harder due to the number of pirated copies of Microsoft’s operating system that are currently in use in the country.
The central government has already banned Windows 8 on their computers amid security concerns, and even though Microsoft is working with authorities to offer Windows 7 instead, China wants to switch completely to Linux as soon as possible.
The country is already developing its very own copy of Linux and hopes that users will eventually abandon Windows, even though it’s pretty clear that such a thing won’t happen in the next few years.
At this point, more than 90 percent of the computers in China are running Windows, most of which are based on a pirated copy of the operating system, according to Microsoft numbers.