Russian Government Mandates GNU/Linux

Russia is the latest government to initiate the switch to GNU/Linux. They follow after China and Cuba. There have been other governmental mandates which have had varied success and staying power. Here is Slashdot's
headline.

There needs to be some commitment to stick with it because there can be some pain during the transition period. Users may push back when pushed away from their comfort zone. They are more likely to stick with it if they know there is a payoff in the end. For example, they could have the incentive of keeping their jobs because they know their salaries are in part paid for by capturing the Microsoft tax. Some of the cynical comments on the Slashdot posting also hit the nail on the head. They guessed that Vladimir Putin could be posturing for a big discount from Microsoft by just threatening to move to GNU/Linux. That could certainly be true, and the monopolist is likely to comply with a cost incentive. However, if Russia doesn't follow through, it will be too bad. GNU/Linux is certainly very usable as a desktop and server OS at this point, not to mention its resounding success and acceptance on Android devices. Big government backing could be the final piece of the puzzle to break the monopolist's agenda to maintain its predatory price structure.