Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a government order that lays out the groundwork for the transition of federal bodies and agencies to use free software, including Linux, by 2015.

The 25-point document (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=htt...) outlines specific steps the government must take in order to move off proprietary software and onto free and/or open source alternatives like Linux (Linux). The government order was approved on December 17 and affects all federal agencies of the federal budget.

Each point of the document names the specific action that must be taken, the agency responsible for implementing that order, the time frame for implementation, and the expected result. For example, one point instructs Russia’s Ministry of Communications to form “the base package of free software solutions for typical problems of the federal executive bodies,” with the expected result a free package of software that includes operating systems, drivers and application software for servers.