Not so long ago, a sensational statement simply 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 the Russian operating system will take its place. The idea is that by the end of this year this same "OS" should begin testing in government institutions.
Upbeat start
The most famous project that theoretically can claim such significant roles is Synergy. This system uses the Linux kernel; the decision to develop it was made recently, on August 13, 2014. This was decided by a joint commission (at a meeting of 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. The Russian Railways will need to actively “bring to mind” the OS, provided it is used in user database management systems. Already such and such have Russian Railways enough!
By the way, the whole idea was initiated by Rosatom’s specialists, since the share of imported software in nuclear power is extremely high, and it’s time to leave this vicious practice for a long time. All involved in the development promise that the Russian operating system will be protected from hacking no worse than the best foreign counterparts.
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 of fate is that these updates led to the failure of thousands of computers around the world, as there were critical errors in it. The problem was also aggravated by the situation with malfunctions of Windows RT, Windows 8 and 8.1 systems.
What is all this for?
In general, recently the Russian operating system has not been discussed only by the lazy. However, the discussion is ironic. Do not blame users for the lack of patriotism. Practice shows that in most cases, domestic projects in this area can only offer “non-boring wallpapers” and a new theme for the design of the same Ubuntu.
It is important to understand exactly what requirements a truly promising Russian operating system must meet, and what principles must be incorporated into it. Let's try to fantasize and imagine in what directions its development should go.
"Childhood diseases"
In general, it’s always worth starting with the previous experience, even if it’s negative. As we have already said, our country has one. Starting from the ancient Spectrum, on which a slightly rethought DOS was installed, ending at times relatively recent, when "fundamentally new" BedOS 2 Tanya was installed in some computer clubs. This epic creation was nothing more than a recycled almost unrecognizable Windows 98.
All of them were united by one: despite the new interface, all of these OSs were just a few reworked products of world famous software manufacturers.
What are the challenges facing domestic developers?
In principle, nothing new can be said in this case. If a truly new Russian operating system for PCs is being developed, then its creators face a huge number of tasks. We list only the main ones:
- An OS release that will perform all its tasks will 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, debugging of which is now assigned to Russian Railways.
- Creation, development and support of the domestic application development environment.
- The release of funds that could be used to automate testing.
- Creation of a domestic “application store”. Give a decent answer with all sorts of AppStore!
- An OS release that can work not only on desktop computers and laptops, but also on mobile technology (smartphones, tablets). This Russian mobile operating system should become a competitor to Android, iOS, Windows Mobile.
- Development of design tools that will facilitate the writing of new applications.
- Analysis of the business sector of the economy, the creation of a specialized cluster of programs specifically for him.
- Finally, the development of the Russian operating system should include the creation of its own working environment (DE).
- Creating new tools for installing, deploying, and debugging written programs.
- Opportunity for painless migration of business and home users from older versions of the OS.
- Formation of training courses that will tell users about what the Russian PC operating system 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 absolute dominance of the very Windows OS. Since all the concepts and habits of users in this niche are distinguished by inveterate conservatism, it is unlikely that they will be able to somehow change them.
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 requirements should the new OS meet?
- The relatively low cost of both the system itself and the hardware, which is necessary for its normal functioning.
- Availability of the possibility of "cloud" work on documents. Simply put, some environment for joint development should be oriented in the new system, which is especially in demand in an enterprise or government organization.
- 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 (such analogues of versions of Business, Professional).
- The speed of processing arrays of information should be as high as possible.
- Maximum reliability and security (including from viruses).
- The development and development of the operating system should be carried out taking into account the latest trends in the hardware market.
- Protection against malicious actions. 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 a home user on a computer (in order to gradually attract a new audience).
- Full compatibility with at least the most common computer hardware and peripherals.
OS development taking into account future hardware development trends
Recently, processors crossed the threshold of 14 nm, the same domestic Elbrus appeared 65 nm, it is reported about the imminent release of a capacious memory of a new type ReRam, which will leave all modern SSD (NAND) far behind in speed. Simply put, one of the priority tasks facing manufacturers should be the development of such a system that will work both on the existing and on the promising hardware. This is a complicated matter, and therefore there are quite logical doubts about its success.
And now we’ll talk about real progress in this area.
About the "Chameleons" and more
In general, modern domestic OSs have exactly two realistic development paths. And in the first place is the justified interest of the military, for whom the 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 Russian-made operating system.
In the latter case, you can call the OS Xameleon. If we talk about the technological side of the issue, it is very similar to Mac OS X, since both systems are based on the use of a microkernel. Chameleon implements the development of L4, and Mach microkernel is included in Mac OS X. Alas, the domestic “answer” so far does not even have a banal GUI, that is, a graphical interface.
Other candidates
There is also the Russian operating system Patriot OS. Quite a long time ago, Boomstarter announced the collection of donations for its creation. The claimed amount is 38.5 million rubles, which in itself causes massive ridicule in the network. The fact is that domestic crowdfunding projects have never gained more than 12 million. In addition, if you read the requirements for the new system ...
Simply put, the amount claimed is clearly small. If the Russian Patriot OS operating system 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 even 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 claimed characteristics raises deep doubts.
A moment of humor
Thus, the author of the project says that he would like to create a new Patriot Network, an analogue of the World Wide Web, 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 technology." The fact is that even $ 38 million will not be enough to implement something like this, to say nothing of the domestic currency ...
Phantom Perspectives
There is also the Russian Phantom operating system. Theoretically, it is a development of the Digital Zone company (in fact - “homework” by Dmitry Zavalishin). Last year every year he ardently proves the advantages of his “brainchild” at HighLoad and other similar events.
In principle, this time the Russian operating system Phantom does not contain anything truly revolutionary or new. Developers really are not cunning when they claim that their OS is not a clone of Windows / Unix.
But for some reason they “forget” to tell that the “Phantom” is an almost exact copy of the KeyKOS / EROS system. Moreover, this topic was started in the distant 80s of the last century, when the general principles of KeyKOS development were laid.