Computer software and multimedia applications for Russian are scarce and most of the available software still falls into a traditional grammar/drill category. It is necessary to actively pursue Russian language software development of a more communicative, interactive nature. A review of commercially available software for Russian using Brown's (1990) three-tiered categorization shows that most packages all fall into the first category, where no adaptions by the teacher are possible without the appropriate authoring software. These programs do not maximize the computer's capabilities of providing communicative tasks, rather, they limit interaction to structural feedback and therefore cannot be construed as sophisticated multimedia. Factors that contribute to the current state of software for Russian include market concerns, lack of a standardized Russian keyboard, and lack of software developers who are knowledgeable in second language acquisition. Teachers may find that authoring systems would be a viable temporary solution to the lack of innovative multimedia applications in Russian. Four specific authoring systems are described. Information on selected authoring systems and software companies and a bibliography are appended. (JP)