The Russian government has admitted that it’s spending almost $5 million to develop a “national” operating system, based on the open source Linux OS. This would, obviously, cut out Microsoft from the table. The country is trying to save money by eliminating the software giant’s OS.

However, nobody has seen the new system in action and it remains to be seen if it is really necessary.

“It’s a very sensitive question,” says Viktor Tsygankov, an analyst with the Russian branch of International Data Corporation, an IT consulting firm. “I don’t really see how it’s possible to make a ‘national’ OS based on the Linux kernel. Linux isn’t Russian. And what stops us from using existing Linux systems? They are stable and work fine. This is just unnecessary, in my personal opinion.

The switch takes place at the end of year, according to sources.