Russia to switch to open source by 2015

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According to a report by the EU’s Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR), Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a plan to “switch federal authorities to free software.” The communications ministry is to start the process this year and by the end of 2014, all federal institutions are to have started the migration. The Russian government will be setting up a support centre with a repository for open source software used by authorities.

In a report from the Wall Street Journal, Russian political scientist Evgeny Morozov says economics is probably not the only reason for this move. Of course, Russia will save quite a bit in license fees, but Morozov says the main goal is to become less dependent on foreign software vendors for the sake of national security.

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