Linux for DoD?

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Vladimir Putin signed a 20-page executive order requiring that all public institutions in Russia to replace proprietary software, developed by companies like Microsoft and Adobe, with free open-source alternatives by 2015. Such move will save billions of dollars in licensing fees, but Mr. Putin's motives are not strictly economic. In all likelihood, his real fear is that Russia's growing dependence on proprietary software, especially programs sold by foreign vendors, has implications for the country's national security. Free open-source software, by its nature, is less likely to feature secret back doors.

There are also indications that China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran are making attempts to switch from proprietary software made in the USA to open source software which is primarily open source Linux.

The potential of reaping substantial savings are not the primary incentive for a decoupling from US vendors. It is motivated to contain within security-defined boundaries the vulnerability to Internet-conveyed attacks or to manage exfiltration of information from internal sources.

The Russian government will now start managing the Open Source Linux software environment so that they can add security add-ons for its private and limited version of an Operating System. This may also include control of additional software that provides security features.