The Russian Government is planning to complete the installation of open source (OS) software in every school computer by the end of 2009.
In 2008, the government will start piloting test in three regions, including Tomsk region, Perm Regions and Republic of Tatarstan. The Russian Ministry informs that the dates to carry out tenders for OS development have not been announced yet, but the tenders are to be held in the near future. The main purpose of the deployment of open source software is 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.
