Russian-made computer software. The dew operating system is Russian, good. Tasks of domestic developers

Not so long ago, a sensational statement appeared in the press. It turns out that there will soon be no "traditional" Windows OS on all computers of government institutions in our country! Major figures promise that she will be replaced by the Russian operating system... The idea is that by the end of this year this very "operating system" should begin testing in government institutions.

Optimistic start

The most famous project that theoretically can lay claim to such significant roles is Synergy. This system uses the Linux kernel, the decision to develop it was made as recently as August 13, 2014. This was decided by a joint commission (at a meeting of the companies JSC Russian Railways, Rosatom) and the Russian Federal Nuclear Center from the city of Sarov.

By the way, it is at the Synergy enterprise that it should now be intensively tested. From the "Russian Railways" will need to actively "bring to mind" the OS, provided it is used in user database management systems. Russian Railways has enough of them!

By the way, this whole venture was generally initiated by the specialists of Rosatom, since the share of imported software is extremely high, and it was high time to leave such a vicious practice. All those involved in the development promise that the Russian one will be protected from hacking no worse than the best foreign analogues.

Last straw

So fast decision was largely due to the fact that just in August 2014 another update package for Windows 7 was released. The irony is that these updates led to the failure of thousands of computers around the world, as it had critical errors. The problem was also aggravated by the malfunction situation. windows systems RT, Windows 8 and 8.1.

What is all this for

In general, lately, only the lazy have not discussed the Russian operating system. However, the discussion is going on in an ironic manner. Don't blame users for their lack of patriotism. Practice shows that in most cases, domestic projects in this area can only offer "boring wallpaper" yes new topic the design of the same Ubuntu.

It is important to understand exactly what requirements a truly promising Russian operating system should meet, what principles should be incorporated into it. Let's try to dream up and imagine in what directions its development should go.

"Childhood diseases"

In general, it is always worth starting with previous experience, even if negative. As we already said, our country has one. Starting with the ancient "Spectrum", on which a slightly rethought DOS was installed, ending at times relatively recently, when a "fundamentally new" BedOS 2 "Tanya" was installed in some computer clubs. This epic creation was nothing more than a reworked Windows 98 almost beyond recognition.

They were all united by one thing: despite new interface, all these OS were just a few reworked products of world famous software manufacturers.

What are the challenges facing domestic developers?

In principle, there is nothing new to talk about in this case. If now a really new Russian operating system for PC is being developed, then its creators face a huge number of tasks. We list just the main ones:

• The release of an operating system that will perform all its tasks, work on servers and workstations of Russian production.
• Creation of working and functional virtualization tools for it.
• The very development of a database management tool, the debugging of which is now entrusted to Russian Railways.
• Creation, development and support of the domestic application development environment.
• Release of tools that could be used to automate testing.
• Creation of a domestic "application store". Give a worthy answer to all kinds of AppStore!
• Release of an OS that can run not only on desktop computers and laptops, but also on mobile equipment (smartphones, tablets). This Russian mobile operating system should become a competitor to Android, iOS, Windows Mobile.
• Development of design tools that make it easier to write new applications.
• Analysis of the business sector of the economy, creation of a specialized cluster of programs specifically for it.
• Finally, the development of a Russian operating system should provide for the creation of its own working environment (DE).
• Creation of new tools for installing, deploying and debugging written programs.
• Possibility for painless migration of business and home users from older OS versions.
• Formation training courses, which will tell users about what a Russian operating system for a PC is, about its capabilities and prospects.

About new OS users

It's no secret that the modern segment of home computers is largely focused on games. In addition, the PC market is distinguished by an incredible variety of computer hardware, as well as the unconditional dominance of the very Windows operating system. Since all the concepts and habits of users in this niche are distinguished by ingrained conservatism, it is unlikely that it will be possible to change them somehow.

Thus, the new Russian operating system will most likely be targeted at government agencies, corporate segments of the economy, and the military-industrial complex.

What are the requirements for the new OS?

1. The relatively low cost of both the system itself and the "hardware" that is necessary for its normal functioning.
2. Availability of the possibility of "cloud" work on documents. Simply put, in new system some kind of environment for joint development must be oriented, which is especially in demand in an enterprise or a government organization.
3. The system must be scalable. It is desirable that with the growth of the enterprise it could be “sharpened” precisely for the needs of a large organization (a kind of analogs of the Business, Professional versions).
4. The processing speed of information arrays should be as high as possible.
5. Maximum reliability and security (including from viruses).
6. OS development and development should be based on the latest trends in the hardware market.
7. Protection from malicious actions. In principle, the Russian operating system Rosa is well protected from this, but it is actually another Linux distribution.
8. At least theoretical possibility of using it on a computer home user (to gradually attract a new audience).
9. Full compatibility with at least the most common samples of computer hardware and peripherals.

OS development taking into account the trends of the future development of the hardware

Recently, the processors have crossed the threshold of 14 nm, the domestic 65 nm Elbruses have appeared, it is reported that a new type of capacious memory ReRam will soon be released, which in speed will leave far behind all modern SSD (NAND). Simply put, one of the priority tasks facing manufacturers should be the development of such a system that will work on both existing and promising hardware. This is a complicated matter, and therefore there are quite natural doubts about its success.

Now we're going to talk about real progress in this area.

About "Chameleons" and more

In general, modern domestic operating systems have exactly two realistic development paths. And in the first place is the justified interest of the military, for which protected domestic software is extremely important. The second direction can be described as “patriotic development”. Sometimes projects appear on the network, the authors of which regularly announce the operating system russian production.

In the latter case, we can call the Xameleon OS. If we talk about the technological side of the issue, then it is very similar to Mac OS X, since both systems are based on the use of a microkernel. Chameleon uses L4 design and Mac OS X includes the Mach microkernel. Alas, the domestic "answer" does not yet even have a banal GUI, that is, a graphical interface.

Other candidates

There is also the Russian operating system "Patriot OS". For quite a long time, Boomstarter announced a collection of donations for its creation. The declared amount is 38,500,000 rubles, which in itself causes massive ridicule on the network. The fact is that domestic crowdfunding projects never raised more than 12 million. Also, if you read the requirements for the new system ...

Simply put, the declared amount is clearly not enough. If the Russian operating system "Patriot OS" claims at least 1-2% of the software market in this area, then you need to collect ten times more. However, this money should be enough at least for a preliminary beta version, by which it will be possible to judge the prospects of the project as a whole. But the adequacy of some of the declared characteristics raises deep doubts.

A moment of humor

So, the author of the project says that he would like to create new Network "Patrionet", analogue World Internet, which will be available only to those users on whose computers the Russian operating system "Patriot" will be installed. It claims to be based on "incredibly fast dynamic technology." The fact is that even $ 38 million will not be enough to implement something like this, let alone the domestic currency ...

Phantom Perspectives

There is also the Russian operating system Phantom. Theoretically, it is the development of the Digital Zone company (in fact - Dmitry Zavalishin's "home preparation"). The latter ardently proves the advantages of its "brainchild" every year at the HighLoad exhibition and other similar events.

In principle, this time too, the Russian Phantom operating system does not contain anything truly revolutionary and new. Developers are really not cunning when they claim that their OS is not a Windows / Unix clone.

But for some reason they "forget" to tell that "Phantom" is almost an exact copy of the KeyKOS / EROS system. Moreover, this topic was started in the distant 80s of the last century, when the general principles development of KeyKOS.

OS ROSA is an excellent Russian-made version. Since my job is computer related, I am constantly in search of the perfect operating system. What is included in this concept? Security, speed, and work without any "freezes" of the system. Last thing windows time does not please users, so I drew attention to the Russian OS ROSA.

It was founded by Mandriva in 2011. However, the actually working version of the system came out a year later. Rosa Desktop Fresh 2012 became new page domestic analogs of windows.

A colossal work of specialists was carried out on it. different countries, about 1 million lines of code changed and added, almost 16 thousand packages were updated in their repositories. Also included in this line of systems are the server version - Rosa Server and the more popular desktop version - Rosa Desktop, which in turn comes in three editions. Such as Free (free components), EE (extended) and LTS (with 5 years of support). In contrast to, and the ROSA operating system has several advantages.

Russian operating system for PC Rosa advantages

In my opinion the best for personal use Desktop is suitable, since all the best developments are collected in it. Due to this, it, like other versions, has a number of advantages:

It combines elegant design and excellent functionality due to the selection of programs collected in it;

Having installed such a system, you do not need to look for drivers, they come with the OS. Thus, it represents full set... Installed and rejoice;

If you doubt the need to change the system, you can use the so-called "guest mode". To do this, create bootable USB drive and test this OS without demolishing the previous one;

Due to the fact that ROSA is certified by the FSTEC, it is perfect for organizations for which safety comes first;

In this system, the interface is very well thought out and all the necessary tools are easy to find, although they are slightly different from what we are used to. So, for example, after pressing the "Start" button, you find yourself in some semblance of the menu of androids and (or) smartphones;

ROSA allows you to experiment with the installed programs in "freeze mode", and after rebooting, return the system to its original state.

Download OS ROSA -http: //www.rosalinux.ru/rosa-linux-download-links/

The developers made a very wise decision to make ROSA OS free. Such a step leads to its rapid distribution without any imposition on users.
The ROSA operating system, due to its security and ease of use, was an ideal option for me. And her ability to share WiFi in two clicks was a rather pleasant surprise for me.

On the Internet, patriots are trolled in the style: "Here you are reading this message on a Chinese computer with American programs, it is not Orthodox"... Now, if you had everything completely domestic ... Moreover, now “for this shop” you can easily win a large state contract: for the sake of such a business, many equipment manufacturers have already begun to produce it at contract factories among birches dear to our hearts.

Charlatans like the schoolboy who drew the screensaver and announced the creation of the BolgenOS operating system, we do not take into account, but the expense - but it turns out that Russia is full of serious developments.

Not very Russian ROSA Linux

Here, for example, ROSA Linux (read not as "rose", but as "dew" that is on the grass in the morning). It can hardly be considered completely Russian, because these are actually further branches of the development of foreign assemblies of Mandriva and Red Hat. The home version is called Rosa Fresh; the last build was released in August 2016.

The advantage of this free assembly in comparison with the same Ubuntu is the ability to choose a graphical interface (KDE or Gnome), the presence of drivers "out of the box" for a large number of devices, including proprietary (say, NVIDIA video cards), and pre-installed software - such as Skype, Java, Flash, Steam, your own omnivorous media player, etc., as well as convenient tools for creating restore points.

ROSA 2012LTS operating system desktop.

Astra Linux

Astra Linux is another Russian Linux assembly (originally created on the basis of Debian), developed for security forces and special services. She is different the highest level protection and certified to work with information containing state secrets. To heighten patriotism, all releases are named after the hero cities of Russia.

Now relevant "Eagle" - a version for everyday office, sorry, office tasks and "Smolensk" for working with information of the category "Top secret". Preparing for the release of "Novorossiysk" - mobile version OS for smartphones and tablets with ARM processors.

From a technical point of view, Astra differs from all other Linux systems by its own patented access control system, and also has a number of other data protection functions - for example, when a file is deleted, it is completely deleted and the space it occupied is filled with random masking data sequences (in other operating systems, by default, only the FAT entry is changed, and in order to remote file it was impossible to read by sector-by-sector reading of the drive, special utilities are used).

Operating system of general system purpose Astra Linux Common Edition.

Intelligence software

Zarya is another special-purpose Linux assembly (based on Red Hat), it is used exclusively in the Russian army and exists in the form of several assemblies - for workstations, for data centers, for specialized computerized complexes, etc.

There is also WSWS - " Mobile system Armed Forces "and GosLinux - an OS for the Federal Bailiff Service (also based on Red Hat). There are statistics on the latter: it is installed on 660 servers and 16 thousand workstations, while the cost of a copy in terms of one computer was equal to 1,500 rubles. As it is installed on a larger number of PCs by the end of 2016 (then it will be installed on half of FSSP computers), the average cost will drop to 800 rubles. In any case, it is several times cheaper than licenses for Windows and MS Office.

Elbrus

Elbrus is an operating system for computers with Russian processors of the same name. Since these processors, although compatible with x86, have their own unique architecture, we decided to develop a special OS - again, on the Linux kernel - that takes into account the peculiarities of the CPU and makes the most of its advantages.

VK Monocube-PC - personal Computer based on the Elbrus-2C + microprocessor with the Elbrus / MCST operating system.

Software from scratch

All of the above operating systems, unfortunately, are not entirely Russian developments, since these are various variations on the topic of foreign Linux. However, we also have our own OS called "Phantom", developed from scratch.

One of key features "Phantom" is persistence, which means that applications run without stopping and even "do not know" that the computer was turned off or restarted - work continues exactly from the same moment. This is somewhat similar to hibernation in other systems (where the contents of memory are written to disk as files and then loaded), but it is guaranteed to work without crashing drivers and programs, and everything happens automatically. Even if you suddenly turn off the computer, the data will not be lost and after turning it back on, everything will be the same as a few seconds before turning it off.

There is only one problem with "Phantom": for it you need to write (or port from Unix systems) application software, and then the chicken and egg problem arises: until there is at least some penetration of the OS, no one wants to write programs for it, but for now no programs - no penetration.

To make both the OS and the programs at the same time requires huge investments, which the small company Digital Zone, the author of "Phantom", does not have. Therefore, the system exists as an alpha version for 32-bit x86 processors and the prospects for its further development are very vague.

Actually, programs do not need to be able to write their state to a file, and in general, Phantom operates not with “files”, but with “objects”. According to the creators of the OS, it is much easier to write programs for it and 30% cheaper.

Disguise as Russian software

We should also remember the noise that arose around Sailfish OS after our minister Nikolai Nikiforov met with the leaders of the Finnish Jolla. A year ago, Jolla was bought by Russian businessman Grigory Berezkin and even won the competition of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications for import substitution in the OS segment for mobile devices.

Since then, nothing has happened, and there is nothing Russian, except for the buyer, in Sailfish yet. Nevertheless, there is talk about the development of a new mobile operating system in Innopolis in Russia, aimed at export.

Many media outlets came out with headlines that this is the creation of a domestic mobile operating system. But on the Internet a priori there are no boundaries, all products must be global. On the contrary, we would like Russian developers to participate in creating a product that will be export-oriented, and ideally become a platform for the BRICS countries.

Nikolay Nikiforov

minister of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation

And here there is a certain logical trick: Nikiforov considers the open operating system Sailfish one of the possible candidates to become a platform for further import substitution in the IT field. However, nothing is said about the fact that Sailfish will be developed in Innopolis. But it is said that the Open Mobile Platform company, which suddenly belongs to Berezkin, will only take the foreign Sailfish as a basis and modify it for ordinary Russian users. That is, this is not just another "Linux for the public sector", but an OS for the mass market.

Let's discard all these streamlined wording: it is clear that under the guise of a Russian mobile OS we will be shown exactly the redesigned Sailfish. She, in turn, is a Linux-like heir to the MeeGo and Maemo platforms, which were developed at Nokia and were "killed" by Stephen Elop, a sent Cossack from Microsoft, because they were competitors Windows Phone... One device, Nokia N9, was released, however.

An error occurred during download.

Sailfish can run Android applications, so there will be no problems with the software, however, it is difficult for the user to explain why he should launch Android applications not on Android, but on a smartphone with a different operating system.

The main advantage of Sailfish is that it does not depend on Google and its services (this is why, for example, Samsung developed Bada and Tizen). The user is promised a little magic, like Apple, and the programmers - the ease of creating applications without the problems with fragmentation. According to rumors, Yotaphone 3 will be released on Sailfish.

What's the bottom line?

The bottom line is that we have this: all "live" Russian operating systems are actually reworked for specific tasks Linux assemblies. They fulfill their tasks of saving the state budget and ensuring the safety of data. The degree of patriotism is being raised. Sysadmins and software developers are given jobs. That is, everything is fine.

1. ROSA Linux

The ROSA Linux distribution kit is developed by the Russian company STC IT ROSA or "Scientific and Technical Center information technologies "Russian operating systems", the development began in 2007 and to this day there have been many improvements.

The distribution was originally based on Mandriva, the desktop and server versions were based on Red Hat. But after Mandriva was shut down, the OpenMandriva project was based on Rosa Linux.

It is an easy-to-use and easy-to-install system that provides most of the software needed by the average user out of the box.

All necessary media codecs are also supplied with the distribution kit. The system interface and window layout are a bit similar to the Windows style, and this will help new users get better at using the system.

KDE is used as a desktop shell. In addition, the Rosa developers bring many improvements and fixes to most of the packages they ship.

2. Calculate Linux

Calculate Linux is developed by Alexander Tratsevsky from Russia. This distribution is based on Gentoo and includes all its benefits, as well as a large number of additional opportunities and a graphical installer.

The development of the project began back in 2007. Calculate is especially good for a business environment. It is optimized for rapid deployment, you can set up a configuration on one computer and use it on all others.

User under his account can use the system independently of the computer. Latest version Calculate - 15.12. This version added the ability to create LiveUSB, added support for the AMDGPU driver with open source codeas well as many other improvements.

3. ZorinOS

The operating system ZorinOS was developed by a native of Russia Artem Zorin, who is currently located in Ireland.

This is another enterprise-class distribution very similar to Windows. ZorinOS is based on Ubuntu and uses the Gnome 3 desktop environment and its own Zorin DE shell to organize the user interface.

The latest stable release of ZorinOS 9 is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and the most recent, ZorinOS 11, is based on Ubuntu 15.10. A feature of ZorinOS has its own design themes similar to both Windows XP and 7, as well as a utility for managing themes that allows you to customize appearance desktop.

Currently ZorinOS comes in two main versions - stable 9 and the newest 11. Both versions have Core, Lite, Business and Ultimate editions. The first two editions are free, while the last two are available for 8.99 and 9.99 respectively.

4. Runtu

This distribution was probably the first linux distribution for many Russians. It is based on Ubuntu and offers improved Russian language localization. The development of the project began back in 2007.

Then Alexei Chernomorenko and Alexander Becher prepared a special Ubuntu assembly for a report at a scientific conference on open source software: Ubuntu Full Power Linux.

Later, this assembly gained popularity among users and in the field of education and was renamed to Runtu.

The main goal of this distribution is to provide beginners with a perfectly localized and simple system with all the software they need out of the box. In addition, there is also its own softwaresuch as the Runtu Assistant utility, which can help new users better customize their system.

Runtu was last released in March 2015. The software has been updated, 64 bit support has been added and some fixes have been made.

5. Astra Linux

The Astra Linux distribution is developed by NPO RusBITech for military purposes, law enforcement agencies and the FSB.

The distribution is focused on data protection and is used in various government agencies.

The distribution kit is delivered in two editions: Spesial Edition and Common Edition.

The general edition is intended for enterprises, the special edition is for special services. Many proprietary software comes with the system.

All applications developed by the authors of the distribution have the fly prefix. This is fly-fm - file manager, Fly panel, fly-admin-wicd - manager network connections, fly-update-notifier - update widget, Fly terminal, fly-videocamera, fly-record - sound recording, fly-cddvdburner, fly-ocr - text recognition, etc. By the way, it is important to note that the fly file manager is very similar to Windows Explorer.

The latest release, at the time of this writing, took place on March 17, 2016, and this is Astra Linux version 1.11.

6. ALT Linux

ALT Linux is being developed by the Russian company of the same name: Alt Linux.

And again, the operating system is designed for the business sector.

All the software you need for office work, graphics, audio, video and programming is supplied by default.

During installation, you can select the distribution components to be installed and thus form the distribution's functionality.

The default desktop environment is KDE 4.

Minimum system requirements 768 MB random access memory, as well as a video card with support for 3D acceleration.

The newest version of Alt Linux at the moment is 7.0.5, which was released in early 2015.

7. Agilia Linux

Another distribution kit of Russian origin.

Formerly known as MOPS Linux.

Originally based on Slackware Linux. It combines beauty and speed.

Unlike MOPS, the installer has been completely redesigned and the number of default applications has been increased. The frequency of the release is once every three months.