Not so long ago, a sensational statement appeared in the press. It turns out that on all computers of state institutions of our country there will soon be no "traditional" Windows OS! Major figures promise that a Russian operating system will take its place. The idea is that by the end of this year, this very “OS” should begin testing in state institutions.
Optimistic start
The most famous project that can theoretically claim 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 Russian Railways, Rosatom) and the Russian Federal Nuclear Center from the city of Sarov.
By the way, it is onAt the Synergy enterprise, now it should be intensively tested. From the "Russian Railways" will be required to actively "bring to mind" the OS, provided it is used in user database management systems. Russian Railways has enough of these!
By the way, the whole idea was generally initiated by Rosatom specialists, since the share of imported software in the nuclear power industry is extremely large, and it was high time to leave such vicious practice for a long time. Everyone involved in the development promises that the Russian operating system will be protected from hacking no worse than the best foreign analogues.
The last straw
Such a quick decision was largely due to the fact that just in August 2014, the next 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 in it had critical errors. The problem was also aggravated by the situation with malfunctions of Windows RT, Windows 8 and 8.1 systems.
What all this is for
In general, lately only the lazy have not discussed the Russian operating system. However, the discussion proceeds in an ironic manner. Do not blame users for the lack of patriotism. Practice shows that in most cases, domestic projects in this area can only offer "boring wallpapers" and a new design theme for the same Ubuntu.
It is important to understand exactly what requirements a truly promising Russianoperating system, what principles should be laid down in 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 it is negative. As we have already said, our country has one. Starting with the ancient Spectrums, on which a somewhat rethought DOS was installed, ending with relatively recent times, when the “fundamentally new” BedOS 2 “Tanya” was installed in some computer clubs. This epic creation was nothing more than Windows 98 redesigned almost beyond recognition.
All of them were united by one thing: despite the new interface, all these operating systems were just slightly reworked products of world famous software manufacturers.
What are the challenges facing domestic developers?
In principle, there is nothing new to speak of in this case. If a truly new Russian operating system for PCs is being developed now, then its creators face a huge number of tasks. We list only the main ones:
- The release of an OS that will perform all its tasks, work on servers and workstations of Russian production.
- Creation of working and functional virtualization tools for it.
- The same development of a database management tool, the debugging of which is now entrusted to Russian Railways.
- Creation, development and support of the domestic environmentapplication development.
- Releasing funds that could be used for test automation.
- Creation of a domestic "app store". You 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 devices (smartphones, tablets). This Russian mobile operating system should become a competitor to Android, iOS, Windows Mobile.
- Develop design tools that make writing new applications easier.
- 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 include the creation of its own working environment (DE).
- Creating new tools for installing, deploying and debugging written programs.
- Availability for painless migration of business and home users from older OS versions.
- Formation of training courses that will tell users about what the Russian operating system for PC is, about its capabilities and prospects.
About users of the new OS
It's no secret that the modern segment of home computers is largely focused on games. In addition, the PC market is characterized by an incredible variety of computer hardware, as well as the unconditional dominance of the same Windows operating system. Since all the concepts and habits of users in this niche are distinguished by an inveterateconservatism, it is unlikely that it will be possible to change them at least somehow.
Thus, the new Russian operating system will most likely be focused on government agencies, corporate segments of the economy, and the military-industrial complex.
What requirements should the new OS meet?
- The relatively low cost of both the system itself and the hardware required for its normal operation.
- Availability of the possibility of "cloud" work on documents. Simply put, some kind of collaborative development environment should be oriented into the new system, which is especially in demand in an enterprise or government organization.
- The system must be able to scale. It is desirable that with the growth of the enterprise it could be “sharpened” specifically for the needs of a large organization (a sort of analogue of the Business, Professional versions).
- The speed of processing arrays of information should be as high as possible.
- Maximum reliability and security (including against viruses).
- Development and development of the OS should be carried out taking into account the latest trends in the hardware market.
- Protection from malicious activities. In principle, the Russian operating system "Rosa" is well protected from this, but it is actually another Linux distribution.
- At least the theoretical possibility of using it on a home user's computer (to gradually attract a new audience).
- Full compatibility with at least the most common computer hardware and peripherals.
Developing an OS with future hardware trends in mind
Simply put, one of the priorities that manufacturers face should be the development of a system that will work on both existing and future hardware. This is a complex matter, and therefore there are quite natural doubts about its success.
Now let's talk about real progress in this area.
About Chameleons and stuff
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 whom protected domestic software is extremely important. The second direction can be described as "patriotic development". Projects sometimes appear on the net, the authors of which regularly announce a Russian-made operating system.
In the latter case, you can call 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 development, and Mac OS X includes the Mach microkernel. Alas, the domestic "answer" does not yet have even a banal GUI, that is, a graphical interface.
Other candidates
There is also the Russian operating system "Patriot OS". For quite some time, Boomstarter has announced a collection of donations for its creation. The claimed amount is 38,500,000 rubles, which in itself causes massive ridicule on the network. The fact is that domestic crowdfunding projects have never collected more than 12 million. Also, if you read the requirements for the new system…
To put it simply, the declared amount is clearly not enough. If the Russian operating system "Patriot OS" will claim 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 for at least a preliminary beta version, according to which it will be possible to judge the prospects of the project as a whole. But the adequacy of some of the declared characteristics is deeply questionable.
A moment of humor
Thus, the author of the project says that he would like to create a new Patrionet Network, an analogue of the World Internet, which will be available only to those users on whose computers the Russian Patriot operating system will be installed. It is stated that it will be based on "incredibly fast dynamic technologies." The fact is that even 38 million dollars will not be enough to implement something like this, let alone the domestic currency…
Phantom perspectives
There is also a Russian operating system "Phantom". Theoretically, it is a development of the Digital Zone company (in fact, DmitryZavalishina). The latter every year passionately proves the advantages of his "brainchild" at the HighLoad exhibition and other similar events.
In principle, this time the Russian operating system Phantom does not contain anything truly revolutionary and new. Developers really are not being cunning when they say that their OS is not a Windows/Unix clone.
But for some reason they "forget" to tell you that the "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 for the development of KeyKOS were laid.
