Moscow all set to pull the plug on Microsoft
29 Sep 2016
Moscow will start replacing Redmond's products with homegrown software after Vladimir Putin's call to end use of foreign technology, Bloomberg reported.
Artem Yermolaev, the city's head of information technology, told reporters that Moscow would initiate the process by dropping Microsoft's Exchange Service and replacing Outlook on 6,000 computers with state-run carrier Rostelecom PJSC's email system.
Authorities were yesterday looking to deploy the email software on as many as 600,000 computers in the future. The authorities might also replace Windows and the Office suite entirely, though no plans seemed to be been finalised at the moment.
The Russian president had been calling on companies and other entities to go local for some time now, citing US corporations' decision to shut services in Crimea after the annexation of the peninsula by Russia in 2014.
To ensure things went their way Putin's internet czar, German Klimenko is pushing to raise taxes imposed upon US firms operating within Russia.
"Russia-developed software is not inferior to foreign software, but it's much cheaper and, most importantly, provides reliable data protection," said Sergey Kalugin, the head of Moscow's information technology department, told CNN Money.
According to commentators the move is likely to please Putin, who had been pushing for more use of local software since 2014, after western nations imposed sanctions on the country over its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
According to Putin, Russian-made software would be the safer and more reliable option. In a decree last year, the government called on state and municipal bodies to prioritise the use of software developed in Russia.
The decree formed part of Russia's strategy to replace foreign imports, many of them affected by the sanctions, with domestic products.
"We want to state agencies and state-owned companies to spend taxpayers' money on Russian developers," said Russia's communication minister Nikolai Nikiforov.
