North Korea has reportedly developed its own version of the Linux operating with a graphical user interface that closely resembles Microsoft Windows.
A copy of the North Korean Linux distribution, called Red Star, was purchased in Pyongyang for US$5 by a Russian student named Mikhail, who then posted a brief review of it on his blog using the Russian embassy's Internet connection, according to the English-language Web site of Russia Today, a Russian television news channel.
Mikhail, who described himself as one of two Russian students at North Korea's Kim Il-Sung University, posted several screen shots of the operating system, including a system clock with a date based on North Korea's calendar, which considers 2010 to be year 99 of its Juche ideology -- with his review.
Although the operating system is still considered stable, it was easy to set up, taking around 15 minutes to install, Mikhail wrote, adding that it came with a single language option: Korean.
The desktop interface shown in the screenshots closely resembles Windows, and appears to be based on a recent version of the K Desktop Environment (KDE). The Red Star browser, which Mikhail said was called My Country, is based on Mozilla's Firefox browser, and allows users to access North Korea's closed network , called My Country BBS.
I kinda want it.
Lots of screenshots are here: http://ashen-rus.livejournal.com/4300.html (Notice all the pirated software listed in some of the screens.)
