Technology in Russia is very rarely covered in the United States press and, as a result, many hardware and software companies do not take Russia seriously.

Generally, the Western press has fallen under the false opinion that Russia is not a technologically savvy country, except in military matters. This unsophisticated world view is somewhat related to Cold War tensions that linger. Macintosh use, particularly in Russia, is important because the market has yet to be fully explored.

In September 1999, Cnet ran a story claiming that Apple had decided not to export the G4 to 50 countries ("the third group"), including Russia, on the grounds that export restrictions were too "cumbersome." The story quoted a "representative" for Apple.

The news, of course, was taken badly in Russia, especially in light of the fact that at the time, the United States had relaxed export controls on high technology.

Soon after the story, the official representative of Apple company in Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Georgia, the DPI Group, refuted the story. In a strongly worded press release, the DPI Group said:

"DPI Group and Apple Europe, the European division of Apple Computer, say these rumors to be "absolute nonsense" and declare that all this information has nothing in common with reality. Never has Apple made a decision of this sort. Neither is it thinking even about considering such a possibility."

Despite the fast publicity clean up, tensions grew. Questions hung in the air: Was Apple doing all it could for the Apple community in Russia? The Third Group, which includes countries like Pakistan, Israel and China, refers to nations for which an export license is mandatory. Because the performance of the G4 exceeds 1 billion floating point operations per second, or 1 GigaFLOPs, Apple Power Mac G4 is defined by US legislation as in the supercomputer category. That category is subject to governmental export control on export to "third group" countries.

Ultimately, the G4 was released towards the end of 1999. It was never found out whether or not the story had any merit, or whether it caused Apple to fast track shipments to Russia.

Mac Society Russia is one of the more prominent organizations where Russia's Mac community keeps in touch with each other, filling in the gaps that Apple Computer Inc. misses. Their Russian language site has a 'hotline,' FAQ's, and an impressive listing of international Mac links (www.macrules.ru).

Dmitry Deleznev, a popular Mac enthusiast in Russia said of the Russian Mac community:

"Mac society in Russia (has) increased in the last three years. In 1997 we were a crew of 10, 20 ... 30 guys who knew one another, but now I can't know all the Mac users. It's a good sign for Apple in Russia. We see that the Apple success in the world brings forward Apple sales in Russia. But I think the limit for Apple here has not been reached.

It's difficult to count all Mac users because many users in professional areas (publishing, software development, etc.) are not involved in a common users society. We know very little about peripheral regions of Russia. We don't have official data about total amount."

Anton Nossik, editor-in-chief at the Moscow-based online news service, said in an interview with The Standard that just 3 million Russians (out of a population of over 150 million) have Internet access, and that's up from 600,000 in 1998. Nossik told the UN Global Forum that despite the 2 percent penetration, polls show 46 percent of the population is interested in access. The costs of a computer in post-Communist Russia, however, is prohibitive.

The Standard noted that whole blocks have been known to pool their monies to get good lines or telephone modems. So much so is the desire for people to get wired, but as usual, in Russia there is a disconnect between the will of the people and the execution of their will by the political class. Being wired is tantamount to getting ahead in places like Russia: it puts information and possibility at ones fingertips.

When MacDirectory asked Mr. Deleznev about the state of Internet connection in Russia and whether it was acceptable, he replied:

"No, unfortunately! The far regions have problems with ordinal dial-up Internet connection, but in big cities access to global networks is still expensive. Big organizations have corporative networks and good channels to the Internet.

But for ordinary home users it's very difficult to pay for Internet access."

Vladimir Putin may not be helping matters. The Russian President has a deep mistrust for independent forms of media. His treatment of free forms of media, compared to other Russian leaders, has been intensely negative despite internal polls that show that he is somewhat popular at home. Putin's mistrust stems from stings suffered at the hands of more media-savvy tycoons like Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, who have taken their high profile feuds with the President to the media and the court of public opinion. Although Putin is distrustful of an unimpeded internet, he has taken advantage of technology. A few years ago he enchanted the G8 by proffering the idea that the world leaders keep in touch via email.

Konstantin Maslovof, of the Moscow Bureau of Voyage, disagrees with the characterization of Putin. When asked if Putin is popular, he replied, "I think yes because he is supporting any innovations in Russia." When asked if Russia was wired in the traditional sense, Maslov, replied that, "Russia is not an Internet wired country, but the quantity of Internet users is growing very quickly." While media organizations report that 2% are wired, Maslov interjects, "I'd say that just 5-7 % maximum have internet access for the moment."

Because of prohibitive costs, Apple computers are not the best sellers. "IBM computers and the same type," replied Maslov when asked about the brands most often seen.