Russian schools abandon Windows after piracy scare

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.

Rather than attacking mobsters who peddle pirated copies of Windows directly to companies, the Russian coppers decided to lock up a Sepich headmaster who bought hot Windows software which came from Perm region's Capital Construction Administration.

Microsoft says that the incident has nothing to do with them, but it appears that Russian schools in the area are so scared about being shipped off to a Siberian Gulag, that they are buying Linux gear instead.

Schools in the Perm region will soon quit buying software from commercial companies, said the region's Education Minister Nikolay Karpushin. The announcement was made in line with the report on ensuring 'license purity' in the region's schools.

According to Karpushin, schools would start using freely distributed software like the Linux OS, Russky office and Open office desktop apps, Ekho Moskvi reports.

The flavour of Linux being used will be one of the cheap localised Russian Linux distributives in Russia.

Teachers are not that happy about it. Apparently not many of them know much about Linux and there are no specialists around to teach them. Of course if they go on bulletin boards to ask questions they will be dubbed 'stupid noobs' by Linux boffins. µ

See Also
Please Bill Gates, save this Russian pirate from the gulag
Microsoft snubs Gorbachev over piracy plea