North Korea's Red Star OS takes the 'open' out of 'open source'
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 4th 2010 3:14PM
posted March 4th 2010 3:14PM
You know, Tux always seemed so harmless... little did we know that he is actually a Che Guevara-type figure who's been traveling around the world, fighting the good fight on any number of fronts. First, Cuba announces its national Linux variant, Nova, and now? Red Star is North Korea's very own Linux-based operating system, featuring a desktop very similar to Windows -- but for the red star that replaces the Start button. It first came to light when Mikhail, a Russian blogger living in Pyongyang, picked up a copy for $5 near Kim Il-sung University. The install disk apparently features a quote from Kim Jong-il about the importance of an operating system "compatible with Korean traditions," and the system requirements are a Pentium III 800MHz with 256MB RAM and 3GB hard drive space (North Korea's version of Minesweeper must take up a lot of room). Of course, this bad boy has Firefox -- except here it's called My Country, and it will only connect you to something called "My Country BBS," a web portal on North Korea's own (restricted) version of the Internet. Where will the plucky penguin turn up next? We don't know, but we bet it'll be one hell of a ride.
Communist penguin...
@Radukk We are thinking about bringing Red Star to Big Red sometime this summer. We need to tap into that Netbook market.
Does that mean all the hipsters in downtown are going to start wearing Tux t-shirts instead of Che?
I'm Liking the Minesweeper reference. need i say more.
@Radukk
this is how kim jong yong control his men ! chicks with long sexy legs ...
@Radukk Yet you completely missed the Communist Rockettes?
pimpin' penguin
Yet another loss for communism...
In communist Korea, systems operate you!
@ChazClout
If these girls are the government officials walking on top of me, I wouldn't really mind.
@bigcow05
I wouldn't touch those North Korean ladies. They'll stick ya.
Engadget I dare you to install it. :)
@ChazClout: Genius.
Now that's a kind of North Korea I can get behind.
*wink wink*
I can imagine every sentence of the Software User Agreement ending in "... upon penalty of death by fire squad."
Ironically, today news surfaced that a man in North Korea has been executed in public for "making an illegal cell phone call."
@shishi
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/774850--n-korean-man-executed-for-cell-phone-call
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=050000&biid=2010021157248
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=korea+executed+phone
In soviet russia, system operates you... which was kinda true!
@MatteoVega Oh damn, someone already said that! I should read then respond... Damn my inhabitions...
@MatteoVega
Fail!!
Downrank coming in 3...2....:P
@MatteoVega
This is not Russia.. This is Korrrreeeeeeaaaaaa!
The funniest part about this is that people actually take this seriously.
Unbelievable.
@Lord Vader
That's called goose stepping Darth ol boy.
I'm sure the 10 people in the DPRK who can afford a computer are happy. The rest just wish there was food....
@formetopoopon
From what i know about their system, it's not about being able to afford a computer, it's about being a loyal enough member of the communist party to be awarded a computer. Money isn't very important in NK because even if you have some you can't freely decide what to buy.
@(Unverified) Correct, it's even that way in some of China still...
Way to make Linuxes UI ugly.
@MoonWalkerCTE It's KDE, which is kind of an acquired taste anyhow.
@MoonWalkerCTE
Just like the dear leader wears the ugliest sunglasses and tracksuits that tyranny can provide.
@bleep
I think it's more like the goose splits.
"North Korea's Red Star OS takes the 'open' out of 'open source'"
Its not even Source based though.
@Nitesh
North Korea: Source. Water looks better and there are more realistic physics that North Korea 1.6. Some people, however, are waiting for North Korea 2.0, not realising that North Korea: Source is pretty much North Korea 2.0.
I want a copy.
No matter how bad things may seem in America... its articles like this that remind me how glad i am to be living in the USA.
@tolarindr don't settle for less!
@tolarindr
Of course then you see articles like this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/26/us_15_years_behind_south_korea/
and you wonder what on earth went wrong... :(
they have computer in north korea? that's the news
@ipodman715 singular = correct.
I hope they make their code available, or they'll be in violation of the GPL. Then we'll have an excuse to hit them with a Stallman missile.
@glennS
Then what? It's not like we have any way to enforce copyright law in NK...
@a5ehren
Here, this might help you get along in life:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humor
@glennS Don't make us go Eric Raymond on your @$$...
@aristosachaion
Haha. Nerd fight. Raymond vs. Stallman. Let me get some popcorn.
So I guess the old saying is correct, Linux = Communism.
@Jacob1 We're all about freedom...communists are as free to modify and use it as anybody else.
In terms of security, it looks like the DPK is now years ahead of the U.S. military, most large corporations, and other organizations that continue to cling to Steve Ballmer's apron.
i didnt know they had computers in north korea
It's official: North Koreans are running a faster browser than my parents......
@Jeff : I snorted in laughter.
I like how Firefox's default screen comes up. AS IF people in the DPRK could get a persona from the Firefox website!
Does the gallery work for anyone else?
I'm not sure whats wrong with Engadget's new Galleries but IE 6(not surprising), FIrefox (kinda surprising), and Chrome (wtf?) don't allow you to view any of the photos except the first one in the gallery.
So whats up? Some of the galleries on Engadget work fine, but some dont work at all
@whoopn
It works for me. The new galleries seem to be javascript, so if you have noscript turned on then they won't work.