Russia chooses Alt Linux and ReactOS as Windows alternatives

The makers of ReactOS, an open source Windows-compatible operating system, said it took second place in a Russian government evaluation examining open source alternatives to proprietary operating systems. Number one was ALT Linux.

Russia, along with a number of Brics friends, says it is striving to phase out proprietary hardware and software and prefers open source alternatives. The Russian Ministry of Telecoms and Communications therefore started an evaluation of available open source projects, including in the field of operating systems. A leading developer of ReactOS decided to participate in the evaluation.

Meanwhile, the Russian ministry has completed the investigation and concluded that ReactOS is the second most interesting project to potentially receive government support, the developers report on their website. With ReactOS, Windows applications can be run with a self-written kernel, together with various Wine components. The operating system still bears the alpha stamp.

In first place came ALT Linux, a Linux distribution of Russian origin. ALT Linux is available for both desktop and server systems. The developers of this OS have not yet commented on their election.

It is not yet clear what support the aforementioned projects will receive; the Russian government has yet to finalize the precise plans following the evaluation round. It is clear that Russia is pushing for alternatives to American hardware and software, in particular, that the country does not trust. For example, the company builds MCST Elbrus processors, ARM-compatible chips from Russian origin.