russia

Russia's growing open-source opportunity (and me)

Roberto Galoppini argues that open source is heating up in Russia. For such a large country, it's fascinating to see how small its start into open source may be:

Recent interest towards FOSS from the Russian government has boosted commercial activity in this field. No longer than a year ago there was no single large company that would say it is capable of doing FOSS system integration projects. Now there are three, and the number will probably grow.

I'll be keynoting the open-source day of the upcoming Interop Moscow show, and would love to talk with any open-source … Read more

Gmail the size of your living room

While I've never seen an actual Gmail commercial on TV, Google continues its grassroots style advertising for the Web service. I'm still surprised when I meet people who don't have a Google account, so clearly these ads might be necessary.

This one, put together by the Russian branch of marketing company Saatchi & Saatchi shows two men putting together a massive reproduction of Gmail's in-box, chat, and mobile features made out of various materials including modeling clay, Lego bricks, paint, and fabrics. Other parts were put together with printed paper and some elbow grease. Keep on … Read more

Report: Russia passes China to become malware leader

Russia has passed China to become the largest generator of spyware and other malicious code, according to a report set to be released on Friday.

Security software maker PC Tools says that Russia now accounts for 27.9 percent of such software, compared with China's 26.5 percent. The U.S., which had been the second largest producer in prior surveys, is now in third place, accounting for a hair less than 10 percent of malware.

Russia is also known as a hotbed for junk e-mail, known as spam.

PC Tools said that the death of Russian Business Network, … Read more

Remembering chess master Bobby Fischer

The greatest American chess player, Bobby Fischer, is dead.

According to The New York Times, Fischer died in a Reykjavik, Iceland, hospital Thursday. It is not known how he died, though he had been sick for some time.

Fischer was long one of the great enigmas of American sports, if you can call chess a sport. Perhaps of gaming.

He was a grandmaster who won the world championship by beating Russian Boris Spassky in 1972, rising to pinnacles of national fame and admiration that are usually reserved for pro or college sports athletes.

Fischer was such a powerful and enigmatic … Read more

Microsoft plans Russian data center

As if the Microsoft vs. Google battle didn't already resemble a game of Risk, the software giant announced plans to move into Irkutsk.

The software maker confirmed Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the regional Siberian government, but said that it is too soon to say whether Irkutsk will be the site of a planned data center in Russia.

"Though Microsoft Russia is working on potential data center construction in Russia, we are still far from final site selection," the software maker said in a statement.

Microsoft has been on a building spree … Read more

U.S. wants end to Allofmp3 spinoffs

WASHINGTON--Allofmp3.com, the controversial Russian online music store, may be effectively dead for now, especially if its sprawling mother country has any hopes of joining the World Trade Organization any time soon.

But Russia's allegedly lackluster copyright enforcement and the rise of successor services like Alltunes.com continue to rattle U.S. politicians and bureaucrats.

The nation does not yet meet "international standards" in its intellectual property laws, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said at a hearing about international piracy convened here Thursday by a U.S. House of Representatives intellectual property subcommittee, which he leads.

In addition … Read more

The Queue: Would you pay to watch?

MMMMmmmm... nothing like the Razr2, a Mercedes-Benz and destruction in Russia to spice up a commute. Plus, we check in on a really easy to use VOIP service and would you pay to download music if you didn't have to? Radiohead hopes you will.

Get The Queue:

[CNET TV] Check out the page on CNET TV

[iTunes] Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes

Show Notes:

RAZR2 marketing stunt[Via Engadget]

NetBank cashes in

High-end media elites

JahJah

Radiohead's "donationware" album

TheQueue[at]CNET.com

Russians say "da!" to driving

A new report by Research and Markets says Russians are snapping up cars at a proportionately faster rate than much of the rest of the world.

The report predicts that sales of new passenger cars will increase more than 20 percent a year in the coming years. The sale of spare parts is expected to grow nearly 15 percent annually.

According to a separate 2006 report by political commentator Alexander Yurov, more than 1.5 million cars are sold in Russia every year. Yurov estimates the figure will be closer to 2 million cars by 2008.

The Research and Markets … Read more

Is Russia seeking control of young minds through Linux?

In an attempt to reduce its dependence on foreign software, Russia is planning to install its own version of Linux on school children's desktops across the country, according to CNews. Fantastic, right? Well, all that glitters is not gold.

Leonid Reiman, RF acting Minister of Communication states Russian OS and application program package development is of vital importance,...[with] [t]he main aim of the given work [being] to reduce dependence on foreign commercial software and provide education institutions with the possibility to choose whether to pay for commercial items or to use the software, provided by the government....… Read more

U.S. to Russia: Allofmp3.com closes door on your WTO chances

Should Allofmp3.com reappear, as the controversial online music store has promised, it likely will doom its country's chances of joining the World Trade Organization this year.

"We remain committed to helping Russia make it into the WTO," said Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative, the group that negotiates International trade agreements on behalf of the nation. "In order to make that happen though, they have to honor the commitments that they've made especially in the area of intellectual property rights."

If that wasn't clear enough, Spicer was more … Read more