Open Source software in Russia

Main article: Open Source

SPO (free software) - software distributed under the terms of a free license agreement, giving the user the right to use the program for any purposes not prohibited by law, access to the source codes of the program both for the purpose of its study and adaptation, and for the purpose of processing, distribute the program (free of charge or for a fee, at its discretion), make changes to the program and distribute copies of the changed (revised) program, taking into account the possible requirements of the inheritance of the license.

In the case of non-free proprietary software, unlike the SPO, the monopoly on the use, copying and modification is fully or in material respects retained by the copyright holder.^[1]

There is also the concept of open source software (OPO). Unlike the SPO, its license agreement may permit the investigation of the source code of the product, while prohibiting changes to it and/or distribution of copies of it.

Open Source Software Development Strategy in Russia

Main article: Strategy for the development of open source software in Russia

Market milestones and events

2024

Ministry of Digital Development creates an ecosystem of Russian open source repositories

On October 11, 2024, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation decided to abandon the formation of a single Russian open source repository. Instead, regulations are being developed to regulate existing storage facilities.

Ilya Massukh, director of the Center for Import Substitution Competencies in Information and Communication Technologies, spoke about the new initiative, according to the Kommersant newspaper. We are talking about the creation and development of an ecosystem of repositories located in the territory and jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Digital Development conducts relevant work together with interested departments and organizations. The concept of Russian repositories, among other things, provides for uniform requirements for storage security.

The Ministry of Digital Development creates an ecosystem of Russian code repositories

The head of the board of directors of BASEALT, Alexei Smirnov, notes that "the topic with the Russian repository of free software was initially dubious," since "it is not clear who may need a single repository." The fact is that large private players have such a public infrastructure. For example, since 2022, such platforms for joint code development and hosting as Mos.Hubof the Moscow government, RTK-Phoenix and Lukomorye from Rostelecom, Sphere from T1, GitFlame from Innopolis, GitVerse from Sberbank, etc. have been launched.

Nikolai Sokornov, director of the Reksoft software development department, emphasizes that abandoning a single code repository is the "right initiative," since a distributed code storage system is more secure. Avenir Voronov, technical director of the Logistics department at Korus Consulting, believes that the vast majority of developers will use open source platforms of large market participants. At the same time, Voronov says that storage requirements should be advisory.^[2]

Russia's leading Open Source development companies named

In September 2024, a rating of Russian companies actively developing open source solutions was presented. According to a study conducted by the Strong AI in Industry Research Center, the ITMO leaders in this area were "," "Yandex and Sber. T-Bank These companies topped the list of leading developers Open Source of solutions focused on machine learning and data.

The study took place in two stages. At first, leading experts from technology companies such as VK, Wildberries and MIPT shared their experience and data on their projects, noting the key problems and challenges faced by Open Source developers in Russia. At the second stage, experts analyzed open repositories on the GitHub platform, studying the activity and contribution of developers to open source projects.

According to the study, Yandex, Sber and T-Bank demonstrate active participation in the development of solutions for machine learning and data science (ML/Data), which puts them in a leading position in this area. Particular attention was paid to developments that allow you to automate the use of AI solutions, as well as preserve the important role of man in the management of artificial intelligence. These areas were highlighted as the most promising for the further development of Open Source technologies in Russia.

In addition to the leaders, Postgres Pro, VK, Avito, Evrone, MTS, Selectel and a number of leading universities were also included in the top ten Russian Open Source development companies. These organizations are actively working on projects that contribute to the development of open technological solutions, both in the domestic and international markets.^[3]

The leaders of Open Source in Russia are named

Specialists of the Research Center "Strong AI in Industry" ITMO studied the features and trends in the development and use of global opensors in the field of machine learning and working with data in Russia. According to the results of the study, as of September 2024, Yandex, Sber and T-Bank are among the three leaders among Russian developers of open source solutions. The authors also identified the top 5 projects in different categories based on the opinions of experts from leading Russian bigtechs and universities, as well as open data on GitHub and PyPI. The university announced this to TAdviser on September 16, 2024.

^{The leaders of Open Source in Russia are named}

The study was divided into two parts. In the first, the authors analyzed how opensors is used in Russia. It turned out that almost all open source solutions companies in Data/ML aim not only at the domestic, but also at the international market. Users, in turn, also choose solutions based on their effectiveness, and not the developer's belonging to a specific one. to the country

Based on the opinion of experts and open data on GitHub and PyPI, the researchers identified the top 5 projects in different categories - ML and algorithms, mathematics, infrastructure, BI visualization, data storage and MLOps. The list of leaders includes developments by both domestic and international companies - for example, CatBoost, LangChain, Spark, MetaBase, Numpy, ClickHouse, etc.

In the second part of the study, the authors identified the leaders among Russian development companies, relying on several criteria. Among them are the number of open-source projects in thematic categories in the field of Data/ML, indicators of the usability of these projects in Russia, as well as the level of quality of repository implementation, the number of contributors and their activity. In most indicators among Russian companies, Yandex became the leader, in second and third place - Sberbank and T-Bank. The top 10 also includes Postgres Pro, VK, Avito, Evrone, MTS, Selectel and top universities, including ITMO.

The study was also attended by experts from Yandex, Sberbank, T-Bank, VK, Wildberries, Rocket Control, CodeScoring and MIPT. With their help, it was possible to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of opensors, identify working and non-working ways to popularize and promote opensors solutions, as well as formulate nuances of interaction with the community.

According to the results of an expert survey, the researchers formed the main trends and opinions related to the global open source movement. The main thesis on the use of platforms - GitHub is still considered the de facto standard for open source, but interest in alternative sites (Gitee, GitVerse) does not subside. Among the prospects for the development of opensors, experts highlight the preservation of the key role of a person against the background of AI , the request for democratization and automation of the use of AI solutions, as well as the "internationality" of the open source community. In addition, the study participants note that the thesis "contribution to opensors - help from competitors is a thing of the past - more and more companies are aimed at developing the industry as a whole. Also, according to experts, it is necessary to invest in open source projects financially - bigtechs have resources for this, but it is important for them to maintain a position in the market.

The authors of the study are part of the ITMO OpenSource community - one of the country's largest open source communities (about 1000 participants). An open source ecosystem in the field of AI created in ITMO. ITMO OpenSource holds regular mitapes, collaborates with the Open Data Science community, attracts students and graduate students to implement open source projects. The study will give new participants in the opensors movement an idea of ​ ​ what is happening in this area, introduce them to entry points and best practices.

Is Open Source Free So: Pitfalls of Open Source Information Security Tools - TA Opinions

Against the background of the departure of foreign IT companies from Russia the issue of replacing their products arose. One preferred embodiment is, Open Source especially since the concept itself is associated with free use. software But are open source information security tools so free? In August 2024 TAdviser , he interviewed market participants to answer this question.

Using free software with open source, companies need to understand that the product will have to be finalized for their own needs, which means that developers need to be involved. 

Using Open Source, companies tend to be left alone with their questions and concerns

This is a myth, "says Anatoly Romashev, director of the Informzaschita design department, answering a question about the" free "Open Source. - You will have to spend money on highly qualified specialists who will refine and support this software, as well as on their retention, because at some point they can become indispensable due to the large number of legacies in the code that only these specialists can support. Also, when your critical system falls, you cannot wait for the community to find and fix the bug.

Open Source solutions do not have technical support, so businesses will have to solve problems on their own. In the case of commercial products, their manufacturers help to eliminate information security errors, improve performance and understand the correct use of functions.

As noted in Infosecurity (Softline Group of Companies), the openness of the code theoretically helps to increase security, but in practice it is not always possible to identify and eliminate all vulnerabilities in time. There is also a risk of introducing malicious code into project updates or modifications, explained Alexey Grishin, chief expert of the Infosecurity security analysis unit.

According to Anatoly Romashev from Informzaschita, Open Source products have several serious shortcomings:

• errors in the code, both unintentional and intentional;
• lack of technical support with the specified SLA (for community-versions of products)
• opensors licenses may have restrictions that may affect commercial use
• Unpredictable product release cycle.

Open Source is not free also because developers often offer to use a donation system or provide paid advanced versions and services. In some cases, working with Open Source can be significantly more expensive than buying a vendor solution license.

According to the technical director of DIS Group Oleg Hyatsintov, Open Source tools are initially free for users, but taking into account the need for refinement, such solutions at a distance of more than two years come out more expensive than similar proprietary ones. To work on such projects, an average increase in the team of programmers by 1.5-2 times is required, this all leads to long implementation times and ultimately to high cost, he added.

All good OpenSource solutions are training sites for commercial solutions, "said Dmitry Ovchinnikov, head of the laboratory for strategic development of cybersecurity products at the Gazinformservice Cybersecurity Analytical Center. - That is, in fact, you will not protect your assets, but act as a test laboratory rat to test this or that functionality.

Andrey Malov, Product Director of TransTeleCom.Oblako, warns that after the start of the special operation, bookmarks were introduced into many Open Source tools, which, when deploying this software in the Russian Federation, began to act either malware or allowed an attacker to use undocumented software capabilities.

According to Dmitry Ovchinnikov from Gazinformservice, open source software can be used in the field of penetration testing tools, increasing local convenience for an information security administrator or solving highly specialized tasks.

The head of the business development department of information security solutions of AxoftNikita Chernyakov believes that the real effective use of information security Open Source solutions remains the prerogative of large organizations that not only have their own formulated product requirements, but also resources (including human ones) for refinement, implementation and maintenance.

Experts interviewed by TAdviser also draw attention to the fact that open source solutions are developed taking into account global trends and the needs of Western companies, which is not always relevant for the Russian market.

Companies themselves choose for themselves which path to follow to solve a particular problem: the purchase of a commercial product, or the use of the Open Source tool. Sometimes there is simply no commercial alternative, or in quality it is significantly inferior to the open source product, so the choice falls on Open Source even taking into account the shortcomings indicated above.

Stimulating the Russian Open Source: how to develop open technologies and motivate contributors

• is Open Source an effective tool for solving business problems and. states After the suspension of the activities of a number of large foreign IT companies, software code open it turned out to be extremely popular, and the issues of infrastructure development for Open Source took an important place on the Russian agenda. Russia The open source TAdviser expert told about what approaches are necessary for the development of Open Source in today and how to motivate market participants to work on solutions with, in an article prepared for. Ruslan Gainanov More. here

Ministry of Industry and Trade will tighten requirements for open mobile OS

Ministry of Industry and Trade Russia intends to tighten the requirements for the inclusion of open source mobile operating systems in. register of Russian software This was announced at a meeting of the section of the Federation Council on the distribution of Russian digital products and platforms on June 21, 2024 by the director of the Department of Digital Technologies of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Vladimir Dozhdev

According to him, it is necessary to strengthen the verification of mobile operating systems and conduct it "along the entire front of classes, risks and threats that may arise when using open architectures, actually controlled by foreign developers." He stressed the importance of focusing on the development of secure mobile operating systems (OS) in Russia.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia intends to tighten the requirements for the inclusion of open source mobile operating systems in the register of Russian software

According to RBC, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes to introduce a requirement on the absence of foreign components in the mobile OS. Developers will have to independently confirm the possibility of providing technical support and releasing new versions of all system components. Confirmation of compliance of all components with information security requirements imposed by regulators is also required.

These requirements will apply to operating systems used at critical information infrastructure facilities, such as communication networks, InformSystems of government agencies, energy, financial and transport companies, as well as software and hardware systems for state needs. The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade told the publication in June 2024 that the proposals have already been formed and will soon be sent to the Ministry of Digital Development.

According to experts interviewed by the publication, such measures are necessary to eliminate threats related to information security and the risks of loss of control over technologies that may lead to the impossibility of functioning of electronic products running such operating systems.

Renat Lashin, executive director of the Domestic Software Software Developers Association, noted that the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade requires careful study. According to him, together with regulators and industry experts, they intend to consider this initiative at the site of the recently created committee for the development of the ecosystem of mobile products.^[4]

Thousands of popular open source repositories from China localize in Russia

3Logic Group and Xellon, which is part of its structure, together with Chinese partners have created a code hosting platform in Russia - gitlife.ru. As a result, thousands of popular repositories created by the largest Chinese developer community will appear on the gitlife.ru platform in Russia. Representatives of the 3Logic Group announced this to TAdviser on May 23, 2024. Read more here.

Innopolis has developed an open source software showcase

The GoOpenSource community implemented the idea. Russian open source software showcase Innopolis Students became the first contributors to the project. The University Innopolis announced this on March 28, 2024. More. here

2023

The growth of the share of open-source solutions in Russian companies is three times

In 2023, the share of commercial software open source software (COSS) in Russian companies reached 12%. For comparison, a year earlier this figure was 4%. Thus, on an annualized basis, a threefold increase was recorded. This is stated in a study by the Institute for the Study of World Markets (IIMR), the results of which were published on March 18, 2024.

The survey was attended by more than 100 large and medium-sized organizations - customers ON from all key sectors of the Russian economy. These included, "," and NLMKRussian Post. Rosbank Rosvodokanal In addition, the data was provided by 26 companies - suppliers in the field of information security, including the GC ",," etc Aster CyberOK. Arenadata

It is noted that the Russian market is developing in special conditions: against the background of the departure of Western developers of proprietary software and, if there is an urgent need to quickly import products in critical industries by 2025, it is expected that the share of open source solutions in the total volume of software used by corporate clients will be two-thirds.

It is estimated that in 2022, Free Open Source Software (FOSS) was used by approximately 15% of Russian enterprises. In 2023, this figure increased to 27%. At the same time, the share of proprietary software (PS) decreased on an annualized basis from 81% to 62%.

The study showed that customers are more actively using FOSS and COSS to solve technical problems. The most widespread were operating systems, database management systems, as well as information security products. The tasks are solved either by creating their own solutions based on open source software, or by using PS.^[5]

The first Russian open source software for drones presented

In December 2023, DIA Software introduced the first Russian open source software for unmanned aerial vehicles. The product was named Asv.Drones. Read more here.

Yandex launches grant program to support Open Source

At the end of November 2023, Yandex announced the launch of the Open Source project support program. The authors of the best developments will receive grants for the use of Yandex Cloud services in the amount of 600 thousand rubles. They can be spent on a data platform, development tools and other services. Read more here.

The creator of the world's second largest open source software repository enters the Russian market

In September 2023, it became known about the decision of the Chinese company Open Source China (OSChina), the creator of the world's second largest open source software repository Gitee, to enter the Russian market. OSChina CEO and Gitee.com chief Yang Xu shared the plans. Read more here.

How the law on NGOs will affect the promotion of open source software in Russia

In early August 2023, participants in the Russian IT market warned that the adopted law on non-profit organizations (NPOs) could significantly complicate the development of the open source software ecosystem in the Russian Federation.

We are talking about amendments that prohibit the participation of Russians in unregistered foreign NGOs. Experts say that when developing the bill, primarily political tasks were solved, but the document will have a significant impact on the free software industry. The amendments actually prohibit Russian developers from conducting activities within the framework of any international projects developing open source software.

As noted, RBC most of the large projects open source with are registered precisely as non-profit organizations - in order to be able to legally accept and manage donations. And since the criteria for participation in the adopted law are not defined, any actions can fall under it: from changes in the repository to a "banal error message." Thus, not only ordinary users of free software projects are at risk of criminal prosecution under the new articles, but also all employees of Russian companies developing and implementing such under the software import substitution program.

Experts also express concern about the participation of Russian companies in RIPE NCC - this is one of five regional Internet registrars that distribute Internet resources, as well as related registration and coordination of activities to ensure support for the functioning of the Internet.

It is not clear from the text of the bill where the border between the cooperation of Russian persons with international organizations and participation in the activities of an international organization in Russia, says Alexei Smirnov, chairman of the board of directors of BASEALT.

The Ministry of Digital Development, however, states that the adopted amendments do not contain a direct ban on the participation of Russian citizens in international projects of free software.^[6]

A law has been adopted according to which developers of unregistered open source software can be involved in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

On July 28, 2023, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the third (final) reading bills No. 346588-8, No. 346769-8 and No. 346750-8, directed against illegal activities in Russia by foreign NGOs (non-governmental organizations) working without official registration. Under the new rules, developers of unregistered open source software can be prosecuted.

In particular, the organization of activities on the territory of the Russian Federation by a foreign or international non-profit non-governmental organization whose information about structural units is not in a special register or which does not have a structural unit registered in accordance with the law may be punishable by imprisonment for up to three years. For other violations in the relevant area, forced labor and penalties in the amount of up to 200 thousand rubles are provided.

However, market participants say that a significant number of large open-ended projects are registered precisely as non-profit organizations. This was done in order to be able to legally accept and manage donations, as well as pay for the work of employees. Such projects include:

• Linux kernel (managed by The Linux Foundation);
• DBMS PostgreSQL MariaDB (The PostgreSQL Foundation) и (MariaDB Foundation);
• Programming languages ​ ​ Python (Python Foundation), PHP (PHP Foundation), Perl (Perl Foundation) and Rust (Rust Foundation);
• LibreOffice (The Document Foundation) and OpenOffice (Apache Software Foundation) office packages;
• FreeBSD (FreeBSD Foundation), OpenBSD (The OpenBSD Foundation), and NetBSD (NetBSD Foundation) operating systems.

Thus, a variety of products are subject to the laws. New articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation threaten not only ordinary participants in open source projects, but also employees of Russian companies developing and introducing open source software under the import substitution program.^[7]

Published a list of participants in the experiment of publishing the code of state systems under an open license

On June 5, 2023 , the Ministry of Digital Development published Order No. 496 on the approval of the list of participants in the experiment on granting the right to use software, including the exclusive right to which belongs to the Russian Federation, on the terms of an open license and creating conditions for using open software^[8]. The list, which includes legal entities and individuals, was approved in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 10, 2022 No. 1804 on the conduct of the corresponding experiment.

Legal entities:

1. Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation (TIN: 7710474375).

2. Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (TIN: 7706074737).

3. Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (TIN: 7706560536).

4. Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation (TIN: 7710914971).

5. Federal Accreditation Service (TIN: 7736638268).

6. Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (TIN: 7705846236).

7. Federal Service for Supervision of Transport (TIN: 7714549751).

8. Federal Bailiff Service (TIN: 7709576929).

9. Department of Digital Development of the Voronezh Region (TIN: 3664083641).

10. Department of Digital Development of the city of Sevastopol (TIN: 9204003863).

11. Department of Digital Development and Communications of the Jewish Autonomous Region (TIN: 7901026021).

12. Department of Digital Development and Communications of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (TIN: 8901017212).

13. Ministry of Digital Development of the Kaluga Region (TIN: 4027138814).

14. Ministry of Digital Development, Transport and Communications of the Penza Region (TIN: 5836680728).

15. Ministry of Digital Development of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (TIN: 2466198744).

16. Ministry of Information Technologies, Communications and Digital Development of the Chelyabinsk Region (TIN: 7451310939).

17. Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Mordovia (TIN: 1326194466).

18. Government of the Tambov Region (TIN: 6831003555).

19. Autonomous Institution of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra "Ugra Research Institute of Information Technologies" (TIN: 8601016384).

20. State government institution of the Tyumen region "Center for Information Technologies of the Tyumen Region" (TIN: 7202190205).

21. State State Institution "Center for Digital Transformation of the Republic of Tatarstan" (TIN: 1655427395).

22. State budgetary institution of the Komi Republic "Territorial Information Fund of the Komi Republic" (TIN: 1101482480).

23. Regional budgetary institution "Information and Technical Center" (TIN: 4823052731).

24. Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science Institute of System Programming named after V.P. Ivannikov of the Russian Academy of Sciences (TIN: 7709006125).

25. Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "National Research University ITMO" (TIN: 7813045547).

26. Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "National Research University" Higher School of Economics "(TIN: 7714030726).

27. Russian Information Technology Development Fund (TIN: 9710077036).

28. Joint Stock Company "Dawn 13" (TIN: 1655467101).

29. Joint Stock Company Robbo (TIN: 7840360259).

30. Management Systems Joint Stock Company (TIN: 7728767728).

31. Sberbank Technologies Joint Stock Company (TIN: 7736632467).

32. Tinkoff Bank Joint Stock Company (TIN: 7710140679).

33. Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom Neft (TIN: 5504036333).

34. Public Joint Stock Company Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS (TIN: 7702077840).

35. Alphatell Limited Liability Company (TIN: 6452951725).

36. Basalt Free Software Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7714350892).

37. Web Server Limited Liability Company (TIN: 9704151517).

38. Limited Liability Company GDC-Global Delivery Centre (TIN: 1660146230).

39. Greensite Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7735538694).

40. Limited Liability Company "Digex Ko" (TIN: 9703029673).

41. Delta Technology Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7722336108).

42. Diaver Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7726293416).

43. Limited Liability Company "Embox" (TIN: 7805658388).

44. Limited Liability Company Zilant Robotics (TIN: 6154159610).

45. Limited Liability Company "I20" (TIN: 5404459582).

46. Limited Liability Company "X System Technologies" (TIN: 7730289959).

47. Internet Solutions Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7704217370).

48. Limited Liability Company "Infoservices" (TIN: 5406607927).

49. Quantum Art Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7710348966).

50. Information Technology Laboratories Limited Liability Company (TIN: 3123391991).

51. Limited Liability Company "Scientific and Technical Center of Information Technologies ROSA" (INN: 7703764066).

52. Nakhodka-Ais Limited Liability Company (TIN: 4345138737).

53. Real Time Intelligence Limited Liability Company (TIN: 6671250948).

54. Limited Liability Company "Red Software" (TIN: 9705000373).

55. Limited Liability Company "Special Information Systems" (TIN: 7716797076).

56. T1 Innovations Limited Liability Company (TIN: 9718107268).

57. Ten.Lab Limited Liability Company (TIN: 5902051394).

58. Limited Liability Company Haulmont Samara"" (TIN: 6316134393).

59. Expa Softvar Limited Liability Company (TIN: 2130124339).

60. Erlyvideo Limited Liability Company (TIN: 7720779369).

61. Limited Liability Company Yakompania (TIN: 1840111903).

62. Innopolis University (TIN: 1655258235), an autonomous non-profit higher education organization.

Individuals:

1. Anatoly Viktorovich Artamonov (TIN: 680399119787).

2. Valery Mikhailovich Bakanov (TIN: 772736281125).

3. Alexey Alexandrovich Godyna (TIN: 366229788780).

4. Gradov Vladislav Dmitrievich (TIN: 623017700830).

5. Zhazhin Pavel Alexandrovich (TIN: 771813232483).

6. Kovalev Yuri Alexandrovich (TIN: 231295212558).

7. Kopytov Alexey Alexandrovich (TIN: 772916204200).

8. Kushchenko Semyon Igorevich (TIN: 482112028881).

9. Maksimenkov Vladislav Andreevich (TIN: 773469447151).

10. Olga Mikhailovna Nikitushkina (TIN: 504811945276).

11. Nikiforov Alexander Alexandrovich (TIN: 232015788262).

12. Pankov Mikhail Konstantinovich (TIN: 402910744655).

Software copyright holders will be able to participate in an experiment on the development of open source software in Russia

On March 21, 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development announced that software copyright holders (government agencies and state organizations, private companies and individuals) can apply for participation in an experiment to develop open source software until April 1, 2023.

The main goals of the experiment are to support the open source software development community, increase the participation of Russian companies in development.

According to the results of the experiment, it is planned:

• creating a national repository ON with; open source
• placement of software created in it, including for budget funds, for reuse in other projects;
• development of regulatory framework for publishing open source software.

Participants in the experiment will be able to publish their own software in the national repository under an open license.

How to apply:

• go to the State Public services portal by links: for individuals, for legal entities;
• Log in to the system
• fill out the form and attach the necessary documents.

You can confirm that you have the right to the software with one of the following documents:

• a copy state of the software registration certificate;
• extract from the register of domestic software;
• the applicant's letter of guarantee that he owns the exclusive right to the software.

The selection criterion will be open source experience. To confirm the experience, it is necessary to specify links to information resources in the application (Habr, GitHub or similar), namely:

• on the applicant's account and/or rating on one of the public information resources on the subject of open source software;
• open source software published by the applicant in public repositories.

The Ministry of Digital Development will tighten the requirements for open source software for its inclusion in the register of domestic software

The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation will tighten the requirements for open source software for its inclusion in the register of domestic software. The plans of the department became known on January 24, 2023.

By this time, the requirements for open source software in the Russian Federation are very formal, Vedomosti notes: for example, it is necessary to have Russian-language documentation. But if the new criteria are approved, the developer will have to prove the presence of improvements that provide significant functional changes in the product in relation to the original free software.

Assessing the applicant's personal contribution will help distinguish "conscientious developers from masters by sticker of nameplates on someone else's product" and exclude "cloned" software from the register, market participants say. According to MyOffice estimates, the share of such "clones" in it is about 20%.

The Russian IT market remembers situations when one person unreasonably stated that he independently wrote 40 million lines of code. It is not so difficult to assemble your distribution of a well-known software product, equipping it with only the original name and without investing a single ruble in the development of its functions and algorithms. Of course, there is no place for such "products" in the register, "said Dmitry Komissarov, founder, member of the board of directors of MyOffice.

Alexey Smirnov, chairman of the board of directors of Basalt SPO, told the newspaper that the availability of improvements is easy to check, while it is important that they do not concern the product design, but the system core. However, Smirnov believes that it will not be possible to automate software verification.

A similar idea was expressed by the deputy general director of the Postgres Professional developer Ivan Panchenko: in his opinion, the criterion for the presence of Russian-language documentation is formal, it can be quickly bypassed using automated translation, which can only be calculated by a specialist. Verification of compliance with the criteria "must be made honest and competent experts," he concluded.^[9]

2022

Attacks on Linux systems have sharply increased in Russia

In the third quarter of 2022 in Russia, the share of virus attacks on Linux-based operating systems increased to 30% from 12% three months earlier. This is evidenced by the data of Positive Technologies, released on December 5, 2022.

cyber security Experts on noticed a serious increase in attacks using malicious. software The victims of hackers were many solutions virtualizations and cloud technologies that are based on Linux systems and are becoming more common, including in Russia.

The landscape of attacks on such solutions is expanding every day, and the consequences are only becoming more serious due to the widespread introduction of virtualization and clouds into business processes, "the report said.

A surge in attacks on Linux to the Kommersant newspaper was confirmed by Informzaschita. They are dangerous because there are fewer protection tools for it than for Windows, and there are also fewer skills to work with it, says Ivan Melekhin, director of the IZ: SOC Center for Monitoring and Countering Cyber ​ ​ Attacks at Informzaschita.

Most servers and popular virtualization tools run under Linux, say Fedor Chunizhekov, an analyst at the Positive Technologies research group. According to him, the consequences of attacks can be diverse: spyware allows you to collect confidential information, various backdoors (built-in defect) provide constant access to compromised systems, ransomware can block access to an entire cluster of systems.

Dmitry Ovchinnikov, chief specialist of the department of integrated information protection systems at Gazinformservice, attributes the increase in the number of attacks on Linux systems to two main factors:

• an increase in the number of such systems due to import substitution of Windows;
• Linux systems are a constructor that can be configured very thinly and securely, but this requires knowledge and skills that all administrators of this OS have not yet acquired.^[10]

Small Russian open source developers will distribute grants for 160 million rubles

The Innovation Assistance Fund (FSI) approved the results of the competition "Code-Digital Technologies" (queue I), within the framework of which grant support is provided for projects for the development, application and commercialization of Russian digital solutions. The results were published on the fund's website in mid-November 2022.

The peculiarity of this competition is that it is focused on creating new and supporting small innovative enterprises seeking to develop open source code, create and develop open libraries. The competition was held in conjunction with the federal project "Digital Technologies" of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation."

Applications were accepted from July 22 to September 12, 2022, a total of 115 of 40 constituent entities of the Russian Federation were received for a total of 1 billion rubles. Of these, 21 applications in the amount of 160.6 million rubles are recommended for financing. The amount of grants awarded to the winners varies from 2.5 million rubles to 10 million rubles.

21 applications were not admitted to the competition on formal grounds, 2 applications were withdrawn at the request of the applicants. And according to the results of the correspondence examination and the expert jury, 71 applications are not recommended for support.

Among the winning projects with the maximum amount of grants:

• An open library for creating test applications and measuring the performance of DSS software and hardware components.
• a high-performance distributed computing system for drug development;
• Project management system and recording Cattr working time
• development of an open platform for collecting and analyzing hyperspectral images to solve the applied problems of the digital economy;
• creation of an open platform for building distributed registers "MasterChain Start";
• development of software for configuration, control and control of unmanned aircraft ASV. Drones.

For a complete list of winning projects, see here.

The Innovation Assistance Fund explained to TAdviser that the wording "recommended for financing" in relation to selected applications means the following: an expert jury recommends that the fund finance these projects. They are recognized as winners in the competition, and then the stage of agreeing and concluding a grant agreement with the fund begins.

Budget funds will be brought to the winning companies in full, the Innovation Assistance Fund assured in response to a TAdviser question.

The question from TAdviser, whether the winners will receive money, was due to the fact that at the end of October the Ministry of Digital Development asked the Skolkovo Foundation to "immediately suspend" the distribution of funds for projects to which the fund awarded grant support based on the results of competitive selection.

The request is related to the fact that following the meeting of the legal commission on digital development on October 27, it was decided to fully use the budget funds brought to the Skolkovo fund for 2022 and the planning period 2023-2024. within the framework of the government decree of May 3, 2019 No. 555 (PP-555), for grant support of approved projects to replace foreign industry with Russian analogues formed within the framework of industrial competence centers (ICC). Read more here.

As in the case of Code-Digital Technologies, the grants of the Skolkovo Foundation, which are discussed above, are provided for within the framework of the federal project "Digital Technologies" of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation."

The competition "Code-Digital Technologies" is held for individuals and SMEs. Pavel Gudkov, deputy general director of the Innovation Assistance Fund, previously explained in the Open Source Russia Telegram group that, within the framework of the government-approved decree on the allocation of subsidies to the fund, financing of individuals is not provided, therefore, in case of victory, individuals require registration of a legal entity.

From there it follows that this competition was initially launched on the initiative of Pavel Gudkov with the support of the Ministry of Digital Development.

The fund supports small innovative enterprises. And I have been sympathetic to open source for many years. Over the years, the fund has supported more than one small enterprise that builds a business on open source. But I went further - and the fund launched a separate program "Code" to support open source, - wrote Pavel Gudkov[11]

Applications for queue II "Code-Digital Technologies" were accepted until October 24. The totals should be announced later.

On November 1, the experiment of publishing the code of state systems under an open license and the creation of the Russian analogue of GitHub starts

The government decided to conduct an experiment to grant the right to use software under an open license, including software, the exclusive right to which belongs to the Russian Federation. The corresponding document was published on October 12 on the official Internet portal of legal information.

The experiment will last from November 1, 2022 to April 30, 2024. The resolution describes what is meant by an open license, what requirements the license agreement must meet, who is responsible for what in the experiment, etc.

So, according to the decree, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Digital Development of Internal Affairs and Rosreestr were appointed participants in the experiment . With a note about voluntary participation, the list also lists: RFRIT, FOIVs, state extra-budgetary funds of the Russian Federation, executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, state corporations, legal entities and individuals. These categories of persons must send applications for participation in the experiment on a voluntary basis by April 1, 2023.

Among the goals of the experiment is to provide unlimited (repeated) use of software in the Russian Federation under an open license; introduce modern practices of creation and development; ON import substitution in the IT sector and the creation of new Russian information systems based on open source software; Reduce customer costs by reusing the software while maintaining the commercial interests of suppliers and a range of other objectives.

And among the tasks of the experiment, including the creation of a national repository and the creation of conditions for the functioning of communities of developers engaged in the development of software, including the exclusive right to which belongs to the Russian Federation.

Voluntarily participating in the RFRIT experiment, in accordance with the decree, without attracting funds from the federal budget, in agreement with the Ministry of Digital Development, will develop technical requirements for the national repository, the selection procedure and requirements for the operator of the national repository - a Russian non-profit organization, the decisions of which foreigners cannot determine directly or indirectly.

Among other things, RFRIT is entrusted with the creation of a national repository in accordance with agreed technical requirements and control over its operation, publication and maintenance of open source software in the national repository.

Ministry of Digital Development by March 1, 2023 must approve the methodology for selecting applications for participation in the experiment, and by June 1, 2023 - approve the final list of participants. No later than 30 days from the date of completion of the experiment, the department should assess its results taking into account the comments and proposals received from other participants and submit a corresponding report and necessary proposals to the government.

Coordination of activity of participants of an experiment is also assigned to the Ministry of Digital Development.

It is important for us to support the open source software community and create an environment for them to work together that is free from sanctions risks. Thanks to the form of an open license published today, software created, including for budget funds, can be used to implement new projects, "the Ministry of Digital Development quotes the words of the deputy head of the department Maxim Parshin in a message issued on the same day in connection with the publication of a government decree.

The general director of BASEALT, Alexei Smirnov, believes that the experiment that was decided to be carried out is extremely important.

Its success will allow you to organize the publication on the terms of free licenses of a large part of the software developed for budget money - unless it has a secrecy stamp. This is not only an opportunity to avoid duplication of work, but also the introduction of products into civilian circulation, and a very effective anti-corruption measure, - the Ministry of Digital Development quotes the opinion of Alexei Smirnov in the same message.

The topic of the possibility of publishing code developed for budget funds under an open license has been discussed in the IT community for a long time, and Ministry of Digital Development at least in the last year have been actively work so that the experiment associated with this idea will finally come to fruition. Advisor to the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Sergei Sergienko told TAdviser about the plans to launch the experiment in detail back in January 2022.

The launch of the experiment was planned for early May 2022, then was postponed to June. Sergei Sergienko explained the shift in deadlines with long approvals, because the topic is new, and it is quite difficult to negotiate with interested departments.

What the victory of the St. Petersburg programmer over Veeam means for all product creators in Russia using Open Source

The Constitutional Court considered the complaint of the St. Petersburg programmer Anton Mamichev, who challenged the refusal of the St. Petersburg City Court to pay him compensation from his former employer, Veeam. This was announced in June 2022 by the Kachkin & Partners law firm, whose lawyers have defended Mamichev's interests in court since 2018, almost from the very beginning of the case. The decision of the Constitutional Court, adopted in favor of the programmer, should in the future play in defense of the rights of developers using open source components when creating products, and entail a change in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on copyright.

The dispute in the courts was over the eLearning Metadata Manager program, which Mamichev created for developers of e-course content. He believes that his intellectual rights to this program were assigned by a former employer - Intervim LLC, which belongs to the Swiss Veeam Software. Mamichev wrote the program in his spare time when he was an employee of Veeam, and the company then used it without his permission, he argued.

In 2019, the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg satisfied the requirements of the programmer to Veeam Software to recover compensation in the amount of about 23 million rubles. However, the city court in 2020 overturned this decision, citing the fact that Mamichev used third-party open libraries when creating software, some of them in violation of licenses. The lack of the right to the details of the code, according to the court, annulled Mamichev's own right.

The St. Petersburg City Court overturned the decision of the court of first instance and refused to satisfy the requirements. The created program used components of third parties, including free components (open source), and the court concluded that the copyright holder did not prove compliance with all the necessary conditions for such use. Based on paragraph 3 of Art. 1260 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation[12] of the[13] The court[14] Anton Mamichev's copyrights, both property and non-property, are not subject to judicial protection. The third cassation court of general jurisdiction upheld the appeal decision, and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to transfer the case to the board for consideration, Kachkin and Partners say.

This was followed by a complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. It was based on the inadmissibility of releasing violators from liability, and even more so - refusal to protect the right to software parts created by the author himself, and the impossibility of establishing any violation of the rights of third parties in a situation where they themselves do not file a lawsuit.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation supported the position of Mamichev and his lawyers and indicated that the refusal to protect the rights of the author of the program is unacceptable only on the basis that the program is a compound work, and that the author did not fulfill the condition on the observance of the rights of third parties whose copyright objects were used to create it. The latter prescribes paragraph 3 of Art. 1260 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Mamichev managed to prove that such an interpretation leads to an unreasonable restriction of the author in protecting the violated right to a program that uses open source and other third-party components, especially if the authors of these third-party components do not make any claims.

As a result of paragraph 3 of Art. 1260 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was declared unconstitutional by the court, the case against Anton Mamichev is subject to review.

Despite the fact that in Russia there is no case law, unlike, for example, the United States, the recognition of paragraph 3 of Art. 1260 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation unconstitutional can cause changes in the Civil Code in favor of IT specialists working with open source.

The decisions of the Constitutional Court are of a special nature compared to the decisions of other courts. Courts are obliged by law to follow such regulations. After recognizing paragraph 3 of Art. 1260 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation does not comply with the Constitution, this clause should not be applied in similar situations, namely: when the author applies for the protection of rights to a computer program and has not proven compliance with the rights to all third-party components used, - explained TAdviser in Kachkin & Partners.

Laws should be brought into line with the Constitution of the Russian Federation if the Constitutional Court was given this instruction, as in the Mamichev case (Article 80 of the Federal Constitutional Law of 21.07.1994 No. 1-FKZ "On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation"). As a general rule, the government of the Russian Federation must submit to the State Duma a draft amendment to paragraph 3 of Art. 1260 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and amendments to the law will be adopted after their approval, lawyers told TAdviser.

The decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is of great importance for the IT industry. Software developers using open source components no longer need to fear that they will be denied protection of rights based on the lack of evidence of the legal use of third-party products. Such developers will not have the impossible burden of proving the legality of using these components in situations where the developer seeks protection against violators.

The law office also told TAdviser that if Anton Mamichev decides to review the dal, it will be considered in the St. Petersburg City Court, which canceled the decision of the court of first instance in his favor. The case will be considered within the initially stated claims - to recognize the author, to prohibit the use of the program, to recover compensation for illegal use.

Since February, the number of bookmarks in open source software has grown 20 times

For four months - from February to early June 2022, the number of bookmarks in open source software increased 20 times. This was announced on June 6, 2022 by Kommersant with reference to a representative of one of the large information security companies. According to him, the growth of such a threat can be counted from the zero base, because earlier this tool was not popular with hackers.

Among the threats to the Russian programmers, not only banners with political appeals were identified, but also. viruses encoders Specialists "" from Kaspersky Lab February to June 2022 found 100 malicious elements in foreign ON open source published in different public repositories. The company told the newspaper that bookmarks "often contain provocative content or calls for any action" and have political motives.

Dmitry Shmoylov, head of the Kaspersky Lab software security division, noted that the main danger of bookmarks is that if malicious code was introduced into an Open Source project, then these elements also apply to the solutions of those developers who used earlier versions.

Шаблон:Quote "If the vendor constantly does not believe the open source used, then all users of his product can suffer," said Shmoylov. According to CorpSoft24 leading engineer Mikhail Sergeyev, the number of mortgages in open source software will only grow. Recently, the author of the popular node-ipc library added a ransomware virus for IP Russia and, Belarus which spoils the entire file system for users, Sergeyev said Kommersant in early June 2022.

The actions of those who bookmark in open software range from simple hooliganism (scripts that display propaganda banners) to the introduction of ransomware viruses, said Alexander Donin, a leading expert on import substitution of CROC software.^[15]

The experiment of publishing the code of state systems under an open license starts in June. It will require serious revision of legislation

In June 2022, it is planned to launch a two-year publishing experiment under an open license of the source code of systems developed for budget funds. Sergei Sergienko, adviser to the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, spoke about this at an industry conference.

The minister's adviser told TAdviser in detail about the plans to launch such an experiment in January 2022. Initially, the start was planned for the beginning of May 2022, but the deadlines were somewhat shifted due to long approvals, because this topic is new, and it is quite difficult to negotiate with interested departments.

The minister's adviser recalled that the software will be transferred to the community so that it can be used, developed, so that they can earn money on it. This is already possible and legal now, only no one does it. There are only a few well-known precedents when departments shared the source code, when the regions shared some developments with each other, but these are absolutely one-time actions. And I would like to develop such rules of the game and create such opportunities so that this becomes the norm, Sergienko explained.

In order for this to work well, a national repository is needed, where you can not only host the software, but also support the processes of change management, release of releases - that is, collaboration.

In addition, a lot of work is needed to improve the legislation. Now the program code is equated with a literary work, in connection with which a lot of questions arise. For example, if someone corrected two commas in a literary work, then who owns the rights, how to properly dispose of it?

Some of the issues that need to be legally closed are rhetorical, says Sergei Sergienko. For example, how to protect yourself from a situation where an official unknowingly buys software that is more composed of free components? Is there any risk that the Accounts Chamber will come and scold? What should guide the official making the decision to publish? What software located in the department of the state institution is recommended to be published under an open license?

An open state license will be the document that was born in a year and which is planned to be given official status. This is a short document in Russian, which is based on OSI requirements for open licenses and complies with the civil code. Such a license is very democratic and allows any way of using the software, including for commercial purposes.

Now we do not impose this license. We say that if a state publishes a code, then it is given to the community under this open state license. During the experiment, we plan to officially approve, accept this license so that it can be used by all participants in the future, "says the adviser to the Minister of Digital Development. "We don't have all the answers. We would like to find them with the community.

One of the questions is how to properly build the change management process, release of new releases, accounting for changes, how to correctly accept the developments that the market offers, etc.

These and other issues, including those related to legislation, have yet to be discussed in the ad hoc working group. Open source software developers and people who have experience in public administration are invited to it.

After the mass blocking of Russians on GitHub, the authorities promised to launch its domestic analogue

Russia In the next few months, a domestic repository of programs with will appear. open source This became known on April 29, 2022 from the words of the deputy head. Ministry of Digital Development of Russia Maxim Parshin

Maxim Parshin clarified that the launch of the service, which will replace Russian (and not only) developers, American GitHub will work during 2022.

{{quote "We expect that the Russian repository, which on the one hand will contain all open source from other global repositories, on the other hand, will thus be integrated with other resources. On the third hand, it will always be available to all developers within Russia. So, this resource, we expect that by the end of the year it will be launched, - said the Deputy Minister of Communications. }}

At the end of April, there is no data on who is behind its development, or on investments in the project, or on who will get the task of its further development. It cannot be ruled out that the project exists so far only on paper, or even in words.

Until the end of February 2022, Russians could use GitHub and Gitlab without any restrictions.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the situation changed dramatically. Since 2018, GitHub has been owned by Microsoft, which in March 2022, against the background of anti-Russian sanctions, left the Russian market.

In mid-April 2022, GitHub itself joined the sanctions. He began to indiscriminately block the accounts of Russian users, and that the account of banned profiles went to dozens. They belong to both ordinary developers and large Russian banks. The owners of some profiles in the future managed to achieve unblocking, but GitHub is in no hurry to amnesty the remaining^[16].

China's largest Open Source community is ready to cooperate with Russian developers amid GitHub blockages

Against the background of access restrictions GitHub for some Russian companies, developers in connection with the situation on To Ukraine and Western sanctions, the Russian Open Source community is developing closer ties and cooperation with Chinese colleagues. On April 29, at a profile conference, Mark Ma, CEO of the OSCHINA (Open Source China，OSC) platform, spoke out for building partnerships between Russian and Chinese Open Source developers.

OSCHINA is the largest online platform in China, uniting Open Source developers. It is a model of GitHub + GitLab, said Mark Ma.

From OSCHINA "grew" Gitee - an open source software repository, the largest in China, which was launched in 2013. In 2020, against the background of friction in relations between China and the United States, the Ministry of Industry and Informatization of the People's Republic of China chose Gitee as the basis for creating a national analogue of GitHub.

Russia is known for its huge contribution to the field of information technology, and many of its developers work with Open Source products, contributing to the development of this area. There may be a lot of programmers in the USA and India, but in Russia and China the most talented developers, programmers, Mark Ma is sure.

In recent years, we have seen a changing geopolitical landscape, everything is changing very quickly, including the balance of power in the global arena. And just a few weeks ago, I learned that GitHub had blocked the accounts of some Russian developers. I am sorry to hear of this fact. This violates the very spirit, the open source approach. Therefore, we need to increase partnership with our Russian colleagues, - said the head of OSCHINA.

Perhaps this situation provides certain chances for developers and companies in terms of building a joint collaboration, which OSCHINA also seeks for its part.

I am a supporter of open source methodology and I am optimistic that Russian and Chinese developers can create together as part of synergy to implement open source principles regardless of policy and geography, added Mark Ma.

On the part of Russia, international cooperation on open source software development is centrally developing the Open Source Autonomous Non-Profit Organization, officially registered in April. Moreover, he is faced with the task of developing such activities not only with China, but also with India, the countries of the Middle East, etc.

Open source software developers begin to block Russia from accessing codes on GitHub

As it became known at the end of February 2022, open source software developers begin to block Russia from accessing codes on the GitHub site. These actions were the result of technological sanctions that the United States imposed against the Russian Federation against the backdrop of a Russian special operation.

According to Kommersant, the developers began to publish messages on their Twitter blogs that they would block their source codes for Russian users. This, in particular, was stated by the creator of a large open source repository on GitHub Florian Roth.

Although formally open source software can be freely used by developers, code authors can set rules for using their developments, including denying the right to use them for one reason or another. Alexander Zhuravlev, managing partner of the EBR legal agency, told the newspaper about this:

Many licenses have a condition for sanctions, and if the United States and the EU want to, they will be able to introduce them and prohibit the use of open source or architecture software - then Russian products will not be able to receive support and updates or use officially such software.

The Ministry of Digital Development told the publication that they doubt the possibility of restricting open source software. In addition, in December 2022, the Russian analogue of GitHub should appear.

Previously, there was confidence that open source software is safer and gives the developer more freedom, "but in practice it turns out that key developers can set their own rules and nothing can be done about it," said Alexey Antonov, managing partner of Swordfish Security.

According to an informed source of the publication, by the end of February 2022, 85% of the software in the register of the Ministry of Digital Development (gives access to public procurement) somehow works on open source.^[17]

The Ministry of Digital Development has prepared a decree on the publication of the code of state systems under an open license

Published a draft resolution "On conducting an experiment to grant the right to use programs for electronic computers, owned by the Russian Federation, under an open license and creating conditions for the distribution of free software^[18] (the full text of the Resolution is available at# StartDate = 10.2.2022 & EndDate = 10.2.2022 & categories = 1 & departments = 122 & tags = 18277 & npa = 124850 link). The document ON provides for the publication of a state under an open license, providing a wide range of people with the right to develop it.

The participants in the experiment on the part of the state were appointed Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosreestr, the Russian Fund for the Development of Information Technologies (RFRIT). In addition, the executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as everyone, can join the experiment. To do this, they need to send an application to the Ministry of Digital Development.

The adviser to the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Sergey Sergienko who announced in the telegram channel Open Source Russia about the publication of the draft resolution, previously spoke in detail about the TAdviser experiment (More).

We hope that in a couple of months we will be able to start an experiment and make the state a full-fledged member of the free software community, - wrote Sergei Sergienko in the telegram channel.

According to him, the experiment will develop in three directions:

• First: the Ministry of Digital Development will publish software of a typical data showcase and software of the State Services Platform in the cloud repository management system operating throughout the Russian Federation. Participants in the experiment will be able to use this software and, if necessary, will report problems and propose changes. The task of this area is to establish interaction between all project participants and work out key issues of the use and development of state software as free.
• As part of the second direction, it is planned to create a "Russian storage site for project version stories" (an analogue of GitHub or Chinese Gitee), open to all participants, regardless of their territorial affiliation.
• And the third area is the collection and analysis of proposals for the formation of the regulatory framework necessary for the publication of government software under open licenses.

The experiment starts on May 1, 2022 and will last until April 30, 2024.

New life of the old Open Source idea. Sergey Sergienko, Ministry of Digital Development - about the upcoming experiment with the publication of the code of state systems under an open license

The open publication of the code of information systems developed for budget money in order to further reuse it carries a number of benefits for both the state and the market. This practice has already been implemented in some countries. In Russia, attempts to implement it were also made, but until now they have not been particularly successful. Now the Ministry of Digital Development is working on the idea of ​ ​ an open state license, under which the source code of solutions could be published, and an experiment in 2022 with the publication of the code of some state systems. Advisor to the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Sergei Sergienko in an interview with TAdviser spoke about this initiative. Read more here.

2021

Open Source in Russia will be used by more than 90% of companies by 2026.

The Open Source software market in Russia provides space for tangible growth in many areas. In 2026, more than 90% of companies will use open source software, according to a joint study by Accenture and the Skolkovo Foundation. Accenture announced this on December 6, 2021.

The study involved 40 organizations, 15% of which are developers of solutions on Open Source, and the rest are users. Among the respondents: heads of IT departments - 70%, related to IT departments - 13%, as well as internal experts of organizations in the field of Open Source - 7%. In another 10% of companies, company leaders provided answers.

We see a redistribution of the use of proprietary software in favor of increasing interest in Open Source solutions, as evidenced by the annual research of the global market by Red Hat. But there was still no objective data on the Russian market, so we decided to conduct such a study - it is designed to help make informed decisions on the strategy for the development of Open Source technologies, "said Stanislav Nagorsky, director of the Technology Department of Accenture in Russia.

One of the key conclusions of the study is the fact that Open Source solutions penetrate almost all business areas in Russia. The level of use of Open Source in the direction of IT infrastructure is especially high - 100% of developers and 85% of user companies, in the field of IT support (83% and 59%) and in the field of data analytics (17% and 44%). At the same time, more than 50% of respondents said that they continue to refine Open-Source solutions.

The analysis of the situation showed that the zone of potential growth in the use of Open Source products of Russian development is 19% of the market in the segment of user companies and 42% in the segment of development companies. Thus, of the user companies, 4% of respondents use open source software of Russian development, 9% rely on foreign open source software, and another 10% use proprietary software. For the segment of development respondents, similar indicators are 10%, 27% and 15%, respectively.

The study also evaluated the characteristics of Open Source products currently used on the market. The average level of compliance of open IT products with the needs of companies in the main areas was 3.8 points out of 5 with coverage of the required functionality in 62%. At the same time, the highest compliance rates today are recorded in the direction of domains and infrastructure services - 4.1 points, and the coverage of the necessary functionality is best provided by Open Source -soft for resource virtualization, as well as for data processing and storage - 67% each.

Common problems for all companies when interacting with open solutions are the difficulties of adapting to the konkretnyy̆ process: 80% of developer respondents and more than 40% of consumer respondents face them. The complexity of integration with related systems affects 60% of respondents in both groups.

According to Stanislav Nagorsky, one of the main conclusions of the study: large companies made a choice in favor of Open Source, administrative barriers were removed and now competitive advantages come to the fore - a technological stack "under the hood" solutions, flexibility and time to market new versions, ecosystem development.

The second important conclusion: companies are already difficult to divide into developers and users. Digitalization and the growing penetration of Open Source technologies into business is an inextricable process, and leaders of digital transformations not only actively use, but also participate in the development of the most modern software solutions.

The use of modern Open Source solutions is considered by such companies as an effective tool for transforming key business processes, and at the same time as a significant argument in attracting and retaining personnel, "said Stanislav Nagorsky.

Creation of a fund for the development of open source software in the Russian Federation

In early October 2021, it became known about the creation in Russia of the Russian Open Source Foundation, designed for the development of software with open source code. According to the head of the competence center for import substitution in the field of information and communication technologies Ilya Massukh, we are talking about a non-profit organization (NPO), which at the first stage will include Sberbank, VTB, Mail.ru Group, Yandex, Postgres Pro, Arenadata, etc. Read more here.

Mishustin urged to create an analogue of GitHub in Russia

On September 21, 2021, the head Governments of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin proposed creating a Russian platform for the joint development of IT projects like this. GitHub

Moreover, we will launch a program to stimulate the participation of our business in international open source alliances. We should have our own platform in this area. We will continue to promote our developments abroad... Create conditions for attracting high-class IT sector specialists and returning to Russia those who went to work abroad, the Prime Minister said.

As the Kommersant newspaper reminds, earlier Russian companies developed a strategy for the development of open source software until 2024. It proposes, in particular, to stimulate the migration of programmers to the Russian Federation and create conditions for remote work for Russian companies abroad.

The idea to create an analogue of GitHub in Russia was previously voiced by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. The department planned to allocate about 2.1 billion rubles not to implement this project. It was proposed to copy current and most popular programs from foreign open sources to the Russian repository.

Experts interviewed by Kommersant were skeptical about the need to create a domestic analogue of GitHub, since "no one will use it while there is GitHub" and due to the fact that "such world-class services live at the expense of the community, not administrative resources."

According to the general director of "BASEALT" Alexei Smirnov, "the creation of the Russian analogue of GitHub may still be useful if it is legally obliged to publish, and under an open license, the results of the development of programs created for budget money."^[19]

Maksut Shadayev: We believe that open source is the most important achievement of the IT industry

Open source is the most important achievement of the IT industry. This opinion was expressed by the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia Maksut Shadayev in an interview with TAdviser editor-in-chief Alexander Levashov in September 2021, speaking about import substitution.

For Russia, this is an excellent compromise option, given that domestic companies are already large contributors to open source projects, have shown themselves in this activity, and have proven their superiority. This is the approach that will allow departments to replace import solutions, the minister believes.

The existing pace of import substitution is not fast enough, the minister admits. But it will definitely change. The levers are very simple: mechanisms to stimulate the introduction of Russian products in government agencies and state-owned companies, as well as fear of sanctions.

For example, all systems are now migrating from Oracle to Postgres. There are no stop factors here. No agency has said it can't do that. Everyone says: "give it two years, we will do it," explains Maksut Shadayev.

Acceleration should also be facilitated by the fact that directives for state-owned companies in the field of import substitution have now become tougher than before. In the new directives, the only criterion for the success of import substitution is the share of expenses. 70% of IT costs should be directed to Russian solutions.

For us, there are some marker cases there that we follow. For example, the largest SAP implementation in Russian Railways. We are not calling for an earlier investment to be thrown away. Leave SAP, leave Oracle, just don't pay a lot of money for it, "says Shadayev. - We must understand that import substitution occurs on a certain horizon. Therefore, we urge state-owned companies to gradually reduce the amount of money that is spent on foreign solutions.

Another area of ​ ​ import substitution is critical infrastructure. And finally, companies that can be classified as dependent on the defense industry, such as Baumanka.

There is a trend, and most importantly, we have very few categories of solutions in the software, where there are no competitive domestic analogues, "says Maksut Shadayev.

The development of domestic solutions based on open source also stimulates economic feasibility: "it is more profitable than taking a proprietary solution."

The full interview can be read at the link.

What is Open Source, and what it is eaten with in our time

In 2021, the Russian authorities again drew attention to Open Source. It was talked about at SPIEF, now a strategy for the development of Open Source is being prepared. In a word, something moved, started and went. To understand where and why, you need to thoroughly understand the question - what is Open Source and what it is "eaten with." In this article , the author - Ivan Panchenko - tried to give the most detailed, informative and reasonable answer to this complex and relevant question.

Russia will develop an open source software strategy and discuss the creation of a domestic analogue of GitHub

Russia There should be an open source development strategy, the Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media said at an open discussion on June 3, 2021. Maxim Parshin The agency set a deadline - September 2021, for which such a document needs to be prepared. At the same time, it should be prepared not in the bowels of the ministry, but together with the community, with the involvement of all parties. The state here is only one of them. Ministry of Digital Development will moderate this process, and in the final will give it the status of an official document.

And there has to be our independent technology platform, including the repository. Here Marko Berkovich (director of the European office of GitHub - approx. TAdviser) and I are discussing what options for cooperation with GitHub are possible. The repository is something that is obviously overdue, "said Maxim Parshin.

The strategy is expected to discuss the support measures that the state can provide where it is worth doing. What support measures may be in this case will also have to be discussed with the community. Maybe there will be financial ones. Support can also be at the level of regulation of the state order.

We have big discussions regarding the presence of open source products in the register of domestic software. There are different opinions here. And we are in dialogue: those who develop proprietary software, and who take open source as a basis so that we find a mutually acceptable solution, "says Maxim Parshin.

It is necessary to express the position of the state regarding open source software, and it should be as understandable as possible, categorical in the sense that this should become the main direction of support.

There are three reasons for this. The first is technological development, flexibility, development speed, product quality and the efficiency of using government resources for development in government agencies first of all. Everyone knows that often by order of them or by order of state corporations many times they rewrite the same proprietary solutions, modules, said the Deputy Minister of Digital Development.

The second is technological security, information security: the ability to independently audit the source code for the fact that there are no bookmarks and vulnerabilities.

And the third is technological independence: reducing sanctions risks, dependence on global vendors. There are examples when vendors refuse support to individual companies or all businesses in a certain territory of the country.

The Russian IT Development Fund (RFRIT) is expected to become the interface through which such interaction will be conducted. Work is underway on the fund's strategy, reformatting it, said the Deputy Minister of Digital Development.

Maxim Parshin also said that the decision to hold the sports programming championship in Moscow on the basis of open source was confirmed in October November.

Parshin's statements about the strategy in the field of open source software were preceded by the words of Arkady Dvorkovich, chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, who noted that in Russia at the state level the open source direction has not yet been determined as a priority, and that there is a strategic task at the state level in this area.

Citing a study by Accenture commissioned by Skolkovo, Dvorkovich also said that most companies in the world are deciding to switch to open source software on individual elements of their digital systems and the products they use.

It is noteworthy that in Russia there are already similar projects related to repositories. In 2020, the Ministry of Economic Development announced the creation of the Russian GitHub for 2.1 billion rubles, the development was included in the federal project "Artificial Intelligence." And in 2021, SberCloud and GitHub announced plans to launch a cloud service for the use of GitHub by Sberbank corporate clients.

2020: Red Hat: open source squeezes proprietary software in companies

On February 18, 2020, Red Hat presented the results of its own study "Enterprise Open Source Software 2020" on the state of open source implementation in organizations. The study is designed to highlight the goals that IT managers are guided by when using open source enterprise software (hereinafter referred to as "enterprise open source"), as well as the nature of its use. The report was a follow-up to a similar 2019 Red Hat initiative, which revealed that IT units around the world choose corporate open source by default and businesses use it in areas that have historically been more associated with proprietary technology.

Red Hat conducted a survey of 950 IT executives from four regions of the world who are familiar with corporate open source and have at least one percent of Linux systems in the organization's computing fleet. Respondents were not necessarily Red Hat customers and did not know that the survey was commissioned by the company, which provided an objective idea of ​ ​ the true state of affairs in the field of corporate open source.

Some of the main findings of the study are:

1. The strategic role of corporate open source is increasing, proprietary software is decreasing;
2. Enterprise open source and cloud computing are inextricably linked;
3. IT managers choose enterprise open source because of the higher quality of this software;
4. Security is the area where enterprise open source is most commonly used.

The growing importance of open source is supported by numbers: 95% of respondents (up from 89% last year) noted that open source is of strategic importance to their enterprise's software infrastructure. The surveyed IT managers not only switch to open source themselves, but also notice similar successful experiences of other organizations. 86% believe that open code is used in most of the most innovative companies.

It is expected that in the next two years, the use of enterprise open source will increase, and proprietary software will decrease. Last year, Red Hat recorded that more than half - 55% - of the software used by respondents belonged to the category of proprietary software. This year, this figure has dropped to 42%, and in two years, according to the survey participants, it will fall to 32%. At the same time, respondents said that as of February 2020, 36% of software in their organization belongs to the corporate open source category, and they expect that in two years its share will grow to 44%.

Cloud computing has become an integral part of enterprise business strategies and IT architectures, and hybrid cloud is the main approach to cloud computing. A study by Red Hat found that 63% of IT managers surveyed have a hybrid cloud infrastructure. Of the 37% who do not have it yet, 54% plan to implement it within 24 months.

The popularity of the hybrid cloud is due to many reasons: not every workload is well suited for public clouds; and a hybrid cloud that can cover almost everything from bare hardware to several public clouds (multi-cloud) at once, can provide the organization with maximum choice and flexibility in servicing end users.

With the growing role of cloud technology, IT executives are counting on open source to build the platform. 83% of respondents indicated that corporate open source largely allowed their organizations to take advantage of cloud architectures.

The enterprise sector has long seen open source software as a cost-effective alternative, but this aspect has ceased to be a major factor - an additional number of advantages have been added. The main difference between the results of this year's survey and last year's results is that in the first place among the reasons for choosing such software, respondents called it a higher quality (33%), as well as a lower total cost of ownership (30%) and a higher level of security (29%).

As for the areas of application of corporate open source, areas that were traditionally considered the patrimony of proprietary software are increasingly added to the usual list. In particular, the three main infrastructure areas in which open source enterprise solutions are used as of February 2020 are security (52%), cloud management tools (51%) and databases (49%).

2015

Demand and expertise in the field of open source software is growing in Russia

In 2014-2015, the demand for open source software in Russia increased significantly. One of the growth drivers is Western sanctions against the country and government policies to reduce dependence on the decisions of major global IT suppliers. Demand also stimulates the economic crisis and the increase in the cost of solutions of world vendors due to the growth of exchange rates. When experiencing financial difficulties, customers see the opportunity to optimize IT costs when using open source software.

In a number of large organizations in 2014-2015. started projects to test the SPO and migrate to it from proprietary products. For example, Sberbank plans to transfer a number of systems from Oracle to PostrgeSQL Preparation for^[20]began testing this DBMS in the fall . VTB is also studying the possibility of using PostgreSQL , where the Bank of Moscow is an experimental platform #.2A2015:_.D0.9A.D1.83.D1.80.D1.81_.D0.BD.D0.B0_.D0.B8.D0.BC.D0.BF.D0.BE.D1.80.D1.82.D0.BE.D0.B7.D0.B0.D0.BC.D0.B5.D1.89.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B5^[21]to transfer non-critical systems to PostgreSQL were also reported by Otkritie Bank Goodbye^[22]

For example, Rosatom structures are also interested in open source solutions . RFNC-VNIIEF is developing a platform based on SPO to replace Microsoft, VMware and Oracle products^[23] addition, in September, the organization began transferring applied systems to the PostgreSQL DBMS^[24]

In 2015, a number of projects for the use of open source software at the regional level were also launched. Among the regions that are switching to open source solutions - the Tula region^[25] and the Moscow region^[26]On the basis of open source software PostgreSQL and Unix, an electronic government of Crimea is being created^[27]

With an increase in interest in open source companies, new companies operating in this area began to appear on the market. In 2015 , Oleg Bartunov, a well-known expert on free DBMS PostgreSQL, was one of the founders of Postgres Professional. In the same year, the Basalt Free Software company was created, among whose shareholders are the Financial Support Agency, which has common shareholders with IVK, and Alt Linux Deputy General Director Alexei Novodvorsky, who was appointed CEO in the new company.

The demand for open source software is noted by large Russian integrators and open source software suppliers. In 2015, the number of projects and presales in the field of SPO increased significantly, Nikolai Smetanin, head of the Center for Competencies in the Implementation of Solutions at the ATI SPO, told TAdviser. The company associates this with a number of reasons, including: the national direction of movement towards open source software, increased prices for proprietary Western products due to the growth of the dollar and euro. In addition, the quality of such products has increased and customers, seeing real implementations, cease to be afraid of such projects.

As of the end of the year, ATI is implementing large projects related to SPO in the financial and state sectors, telecom, fuel and energy complex, and military-industrial complex. ATI employs more than 100 highly qualified certified specialists in the field of vocational education - architects, analysts, engineers, developers. ATI develops its own expertise for products such as Alfresco, LifeRay, Red Hat, JBoss, Pentaho, Zimbra, Zabbix, Nagios, GLPI, Redmine , Atlassian JIRA and Confluence, etc.

The current economic situation and sanctions significantly spurred the work on creating their own solutions on the basis of the SPO in Lanit, which began to develop this direction 7-8 years ago. Interest in such solutions has noticeably increased, and customers are considering possible alternatives to licensed products, said Vladimir Gribov, vice president and executive director of the company, in a conversation with TAdviser.

"Currently, we are actively developing competencies in the field of open source software: we create multi-component solutions, refine them for the needs of specific customers, conduct many pilots and test various technologies," he said.

Lanit has a strong expertise in creating large high-load systems without proprietary technologies, says Gribov. Instead, they use their own solutions and/or open source software JBOSS (application servers) and PostgreSQL (DBMS). Lanit-Integration is engaged in the creation of cloud services using OpenStack, virtualization (KVM + oVirt), server software based on software.

The Onlanta subsidiary actively uses open source software for internal automation and for building solutions that automate the processes of providing services to customers. Most of the technological solutions of another "daughter" - Artezio, are based on open source tools and products. In Artezio projects, Oracle and MSSQL DBMSs are practically replaced by PostgreSQL and MySQL, commercial application servers are almost unused and replaced by JBOSS and Tomcat servers .

The demand for specialists who are able to work with open source software is now increasing significantly, Gribov added. Lanit has more than 200 specialists - programmers and analysts who are able to solve problems related to the use of system tools and application software in open source code. The number of these specialists will increase in the coming years, believes Vladimir Gribov.

The direction of open source solutions has been developed by CROC for several years. At the time of the start, this was not directly related to import substitution: rather, another alternative to proprietary software products for customers who want to save on licenses, or strengthen their vendor independence, told TAdviser Alexander Belyaev, head of open source solutions at the company.

CROC only works with mature software, it has expertise in almost all areas where there are ready-made open source functional products, he added. More than 50% of new solution development projects in CROC are based on PostgreSQL.

The company has a total of about 30 employees who can work on projects with open source. According to Alexander Belyaev, and the last year or two in CROC there was no significant increase in specialists, only isolated cases, because by this time the company already had a fairly mature infrastructure team, experienced specialists in the field of processing large amounts of data, specialists working with PostgreSQL.

IBS says that it uses open source software in some infrastructure projects, but has not yet developed its own development team and development expertise systematically. ISB has architects immersed in the topic, and the company sometimes turns on a partnership basis to Luxoft, where there is such expertise, and for development it attracts external contractors when necessary.

The growing interest of commercial structures in alternative solutions with a lower cost of ownership is noted by Ivan Panchenko, Deputy General Director of Postgres Professional . Over the past few months, realizing the inevitability of introducing a register of domestic software, government agencies have also become interested in Russian products .

"So far, this interest has only been transformed into the selection of alternatives to the products used, sometimes accompanied by various tests. We hope that at some point interest will develop into demand, "says Panchenko. - It cannot be said that interest is connected with open source software. The customer is little concerned about the form in which the software product exists. Important are functionality, cost of ownership, the ability to get quality support and sometimes the country of origin. Some customers perceive the openness of the program code as an additional factor of independence from the developer. "

According to the observations of the representative of Postgres Professional, Russian IT companies are actively dealing with various versions of open source software, suggesting that this is one of the ways to create Russian versions of different systems in a short time.

The issue of functionality, compatibility and readiness of alternative software products to function in the appropriate IT environment and solve specific customer tasks is the first and fundamental, says Ivan Panchenko. If the proposed alternative does not solve the main problems, then no economic efficiency will force the company to implement it. Similarly, a decision is made in situations where the implementation of an alternative requires the processing of a significant number of integrated systems.

The growth of interest in Russian software, including solutions based on open source software, as well as in software for Russian hardware platforms in connection with import substitution tasks is also observed in Basalt Free Software. This is noticeable both in the corporate and public sectors, said Alexey Novodvorsky, CEO of the company, in a conversation with TAdviser.

"I would not talk about open source software here, but about Russian in general. The problems of complex solutions, infrastructure migration are very serious. Undoubtedly, the register of domestic software will help. There are technical specialists on the market, the question is in sales specialists, "Novodvorsky said.

Creating Postrges Professional

In 2015 , Oleg Bartunov, a well-known expert on free DBMS PostgreSQL, was one of the founders of Postgres Professional, in which he took over as CEO.

2014

Bankruptcy of "Rosa"

In 2014, Rosa CJSC and its subsidiary Rosa-Lab filed for bankruptcy due to the optimization of the structure of legal entities and the difficult financial situation of the company. The company NTC IT "Rosa" remained afloat, in which resources were concentrated on the development of both certified and free Linux products. Former CEO of Rosa Vladimir Rubanov at the NTC became president and general designer, and in 2015 left the company.

In July 2015, almost all employees were dismissed from the company, and soon after that, the microelectronics manufacturer NPO Angstrom, owned (by 99.95%) by former Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman, acquired control at the Rosa Scientific and Technical Center.

Closing Pingwin Software

In 2014, Pingwin Software closed after its second largest shareholder, system integrator iT, left the company, which decided to engage in open joint venture on its own.

2010

Vladimir Putin ordered to transfer power to free software

In December 2010, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a document describing the schedule for the transition of power structures to free software (SPO). The document is called "Plan for the transition of federal authorities and federal budgetary institutions to the use of free software" and covers the period from 2011 to 2015.

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications Ilya Massukh told CNews that the document provides for the complete transition of federal authorities and state employees to free software. The plan takes 17 pages, you can download it here (the idea to save the document on the SPO in the.doc format belongs to the apparatus of the government of the Russian Federation).

By Q3 2011, data format specifications that will be supported by free software must be approved. By the same time, according to the plan, changes to the instructions for accounting for intangible assets will be developed. This item of the program should solve the long-standing problem of accounting for both free proprietary and free software that do not have their own value.

Testing of the basic software package in pilot institutions should begin in the second quarter of 2012. The implementation of the free software package in authorities and budgetary institutions should be completed by the third quarter of 2014.

One of the most interesting points of the plan was the mention of the national repository, which should be created by the second quarter of 2012. Deputy Minister of Communications Ilya Massukh explained that the document means "not so much the assembly repository of the Linux distribution as the application store like the App Store, but for free operating systems." The creator of the repository will be chosen either by a government decree or on a competitive basis, Ilya Massukh explained.

One of the oldest SPO repositories in Russia, Sisyphus, is owned by the developer of the distribution of the same name, Alt Linux. According to its general director Alexei Smirnov, who is familiar with the plan for the transition of authorities to the SPO, this is not about giving Sisyphus the status of national, but about making the most of it. In 2010, Sisyphus turned 10 years old, the number of packages in it exceeds 10 thousand.

The All-Russian State Information Center (OGIC, ogic.ru), which had a chance to become a single Russian portal of public services, is mentioned in the text of the document as the technological basis for creating a federal repository. However, in early 2009, the project was transferred from the FSAU Voskhod Research Institute to Rostelecom, and a new version of the All-Russian website of public services in December 2009 was launched at gosuslugi.ru.

The history of the document on the transition of the authorities to free software has been going on since 2007, when the Ministry of Information and Communications began to develop the "Concept for the Development and Use of Free Software in the Russian Federation," which was published in the spring of 2008. However, the resignation of Minister Leonid Reiman and the appointment of Igor Shchegolev to his post soon led to a revision of the concept.

Despite this, in the spring of 2008, a few days before the transfer of power to Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin, while still the president of Russia, mentioned the migration plan for the federal institutions in the list of his instructions to the government, thus setting this task to himself.

Signed by Putin and published on the government website, the current text of the order was submitted to the Ministry of Communications for approval by the government in November 2010.

Creation of Rosa Company

In 2010 , the company "Rosa" appeared - the developer of the OS of the same name. It was created in November 2010 at the expense of ex-Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman. Then Reiman actively invested in free software (SPO): he bought control of the SPO integrator Pingwin Software from ATI and became the controlling shareholder of the French Linux developer Mandriva.

2009: Emergence of the Russian SPO Association

Russian Free Software Association In the spring of 2009, it was formed (RASPO). Its founders were the companies, ALT Linux the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Control Automation in the Non-Industrial Sphere named after V.V. Solomatina, (GNU/Linuxcentre (Mezon. Ru) CJSC Мезон.ру), IBM FSUE MNII Integral, Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences,, KORUS Consulting LANIT Links, LINUX INC, Research VDEL Institute for System Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pingwin Software (group of companies), IT Group of companies Center,,. Informzaschita Etersoft

2007-2009: Increase in the number of SPO suppliers

By 2007, in various regions of Russia there were already a large number of qualified teams working on the implementation and refinement of solutions based on SPO. They mainly collaborated with regional public authorities and local companies. Among them:

• Alt Linux (Moscow);
• Laboratory 321 (Omsk), finalizing the free CRM system SugarCRM, as well as creating its solutions under a free license;
• LVA (Belgorod), developing and implementing its own software and hardware solutions using ASPLinux and Mandriva;
• Integrrosoft (r. Tomsk), actively working with medium and small businesses on the implementation of open joint ventures;
• Argus (Nizhny Novgorod), developing the OpenCV library, which has become the de facto standard in the field of computer vision and solutions based on it;
• Open technology integrator, which has developed a number of solutions based on SPO, including a system for automatic preparation of reports on the data of the Perm Territory social passport;
• "Nevod," engaged in the supply and maintenance of GNU/Linux solutions in Perm;
• Olmax, developing the Kalpa.Cloud open-source distributed network software;
• RUNA consulting group, which produces a free business process management system Runa WFE and a number of other companies in various regions of Russia.

The efforts of these companies were quite targeted and were not reflected in the market on a national scale, however, in 2007-2008 ON. many large-scale system integrators began to seriously engage in the process, competing for the development teams that remained independent. Linux In the spring of 2007, a company development office and center was opened in Russia on the Mandriva basis of the company, GNU/Linuxcentre (Mezon. Ru) after which during the year GNU/Linuxcenter created a network of offices in the regions of Russia to train and support users on the ground.

In September 2007, the system integrator KORUS Consulting opened the division of open software solutions, after which in the spring of 2008 Canonical opened the Ubuntu Linux competence center in Russia on the basis of KORUS Consulting. At the beginning of 2008, iT, which already has a number of GNU/Linux implementations (mainly Red Hat), created a competence center for Linux solutions, and the iT Academy training center expands the list of training courses on software. At the same time, the Informzaschita Company joins the Linux-Online developers and launches a campaign to promote and refine the Linux XP distribution. Companies such as LANIT, Verysell, Systematics, CROC and other leading system integrators of Russia also appear in projects for the implementation of open source software.

At the end of 2008, Red Hat, VNIINS and VDEL are launching the Russian Fedora project with the task of bringing Fedora Linux in line with the needs of the domestic user, that is, ensuring its readiness for use right out of the box. In addition, VNIINS and VDEL established the National Center for Support and Development, which will develop the Russian Fedora project and the MSVSfer distribution (developed by VDEL and VNIINS on the basis of RHEL).

In 2008 , NPO RusBITech, the developer of the secure Astra Linux OS, was also founded .

In early 2009 , PingWin software was created, which is part of the iT group of companies and is engaged in technical support, consulting in the field of software and software, as well as its refinement.

2008: Russian President Medvedev's project to introduce open source software in schools and the public sector

By the decisions of the government and President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, domestic open source software in 2008 was to be implemented in all schools of the Russian Federation and installed in all state and budgetary organizations to ensure national security in the IT field.

At the time, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said:

... "If we now sit completely on the needle of foreign software and" lay down "for many years, then we will not get off with it. And we will develop contrary to world trends. At the same time, it is also impossible to announce that tomorrow we will transfer all computers in schools (and potentially this is a much more serious network of computers) to open source programs with a free license, because there are docking problems, there are technological problems. That is, there is no complete readiness here either. What should I do?

We propose to follow a compromise path, and this path has now begun to be implemented. Purchase a license package of basic programs for three years (meaning primarily operating systems, archivers, offices, editors, Photoshops - in general, everything that is usually used by users, including in schools), but at the same time not to stop, but to work on a domestic package of open access programs (and now we will talk about it in more detail), so that later, ultimately in three years (if it turns out earlier - even better),

To create such an optimal model in which schools and, potentially, all state institutions will be able to choose what they need: either continue to use commercial products at their own expense, and not at the expense of federal funds, or switch to an already absolutely adapted, acceptable system for them, based on open access, on open code.... "

Project "Penguin" - project of introduction of Technologies Linux and Open ON to schools and universities Russia in 2009-2010. funded by FAO, the Federal Agency of the Russian Federation Formations. According to the Penguin project contract, three stages must be completed:

1. Revision of textbooks and methodological support
2. Develop technical support and Internet portals.
3. Educating 60,000 teachers on Linux and Open Source technology

1. The development of basic computer science textbooks for universities and schools on the basis of open software in accordance with state standards and the requirements of the Unified State Exam in computer science and ICT was carried out in 2008-09. 2. The development of Internet support with basic computer science textbooks and basic Open Source packages for Winduz and Linux was carried out in 2005-2009. 3. Pilot courses for informatics teachers and teachers of schools Technologies Linux and Open Software were conducted and worked out in 2005-2007. together with Moscow pedagogical universities of Moscow State Pedagogical University and Moscow State Pedagogical University with the support of UNESCO, IBM Corporation and Linux Center.

Open software packages for schools are designed to install programs in schools and home computers with Windows and Linux operating systems. Linux Live-CD is designed to run on open source software on Windows home computers without installing Linux on the computer.

Open Programming Systems:

1. FreePascal 2.0.4 - Free Pascal Compiler and Object Pascal - Lazarus or KDevelop is recommended as IDE.
2. Eclipse - Open suite of open source programming systems to develop modular cross-platform applications.
3. Gambas - free programming system 2) VISUAL BASIC IDE for creating programs based on Qt, GTK, OpenGL, SDL and CGI WEB

The minimum Open Source Software package for schools includes open source software programs:

1. XFCE graphics environment;
2. Abiword Quick Text Editor;
3. Gnumeric spreadsheet editor.

Minimum Open Source Software Package:

1. Office suite: "'OpenOffice.org 2.3;
2. Web browser: Firefox 2.0;
3. Email: Claws Mail;
4. Image Editor: Gimp 2.4;
5. and more than 1000 programs that allow you to solve a wide range of problems.

Additional disc Contains programs for schools and other educational institutions:

1. Bluefish Web Page Editor;
2. Programming languages ​ ​ pascal (Free Pascal and Lazarus), basic (gambas), logo (KTurtle);
3. Systems of mathematical calculations (Maxima and Scilab);
4. ClamAV antivirus and Squid caching server, PostgreSQL DBMS

Optimized for computer installation and operation from 128 to 256 MB of memory and a processor from PI 233 MHz.

Linux Live-CD is designed to run on open source software on Windows home computers without installing Linux on the computer.

Linux Live CD is optimized to work with a CD for installing Linux on a computer from 128 to 256 MB of memory and a processor from PI 233 MHz. Work sessions are supported that allow you to save settings and documents in your home folder between reboots.

The option with the lowest hardware requirements provides acceptable performance even on systems with 128 MB of memory.

Includes XFCE graphics environment; This distribution includes the easy and fast Abiword text editor and the Gnumeric spreadsheet editing program.

In addition, the first disk contains:

1. Office suite: OpenOffice.org 2.3;
2. Web browser: Firefox 2.0;
3. Email: Claws Mail;
4. Working with images: Gimp 2.4;
5. and more than 1000 programs that allow you to solve a wide range of problems.

School Server - a server operating system with wide functionality, fully configurable through the web interface through which the components are managed.

Composition:

1. web applications to help you organize the educational process:
2. Moodle - remote and interactive training system, contains examples of courses;
3. Mediawiki - a system for organizing a "knowledge base" using Wiki technology;

to organize a local network:

1. DHCP and DNS servers;
2. Squid proxy server (with support for access statistics output);
3. firewall;
4. Manage network interfaces.
5. Exact time server.
6. file servers:
7. Samba server (to organize access to directories available using the Samba protocol);
8. FTP server;
9. Interface for creating local repository mirrors.
10. The CUPS print server.
11. MySQL (for Moodle and Mediawiki);
12. web server Apache2;
13. interface for updating the system (including setting up updates).
14. backup;
15. account management (the ability to import accounts from the 1C system: Chronograph);
16. Email server with support for virus and spam controls.

By the decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation, domestic open source software in 2008 and 2009 was sent to all schools of the Russian Federation and will be installed in all state and budgetary organizations to ensure national security in the field of IT.

2007

Textbooks for universities and schools with data on open source software in Russia

In 2007, the first computer science textbooks for universities and schools for teaching computer science were released in accordance with state education standards with free open and commercial closed software on Windows and Linux.

Computer science textbooks can Kaymina be used to prepare for the exam and entrance exams in computer science to universities based on Open Source Software in Windows and Linux.

Open source software is recommended for use in Russian schools

The use of Open Software and Linux Technologies in schools and universities in Moscow began in 2005-2006. after the holding of schools-seminars "Linux Technologies and Open Software" in conjunction with the IBM a nd UNESCO Corporation on the basis of Moscow State Pedagogical University.

In 2007 by decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation, basic Open Source packages were recommended for implementation in all schools of Russia and use for teaching informatics and information technologies in all computer science rooms of all schools of the Russian Federation.

2004-2006

Increased activity of Western SPO suppliers

The period 2004-2006 is characterized by an increase in the activity of Western suppliers of corporate solutions based on SPO in the Russian market. Thus, the Russian representative office of Novell (in connection with the purchase of SUSE) begins to promote the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server platform, and then the distribution kit for workstations. VDEL (which until that moment was the exclusive distributor of SUSE in the Russian Federation) is reorienting its business, concluding a distribution agreement with Red Hat and starting to develop a network of partners in the regions of Russia. Red Hat and Novell software platforms are beginning to be mastered by Russian customers, primarily government agencies and financial organizations.

In cooperation with state organizations of the Russian Federation, IBM's representative office in Russia opens the Linux Competence Center, which begins active work in 2004. On the basis of the center, testing of corporate-level software solutions focused on use in the public and commercial sector is being carried out. IBM's investments in support of open source software at the regional level contribute to the further development of Russian Linux solution development teams.

Linux Application Market Development

In the same years, at the global level, large suppliers of applied business solutions ported their products to enterprise-level Linux platforms, which was soon reflected in the Russian market. Russian representative offices of Oracle and SAP are starting to offer systems running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and optimization of business solutions for working on infrastructure platforms using IBM, HP and Dell equipment and Novell and Red Hat software becomes a fairly urgent task.

Russian developers of specialized business systems also release software versions for the GNU/Linux platform. At the end of 2006, the eighth version of the ERP system 1C: Enterprise is released in two releases, for Windows and Linux platforms (server part), and Kaspersky Kaspersky present the Kaspersky Linux Security family focused on the corporate market for protecting servers and workstations running GNU/Linux. Russian service providers do not remain aloof from the corporate market of SPO solutions: in 2005-2006. R-Style training center launches a number of authorized courses on GNU/Linux server platforms Red Hat and Novell, large system integrators begin to more actively use SPO in corporate projects, including for integrating heterogeneous systems. During the same period, the first periodicals fully devoted to SPO appeared in Russia: the quarterly Chip Special Linux magazine published by Vogel Burda Communikeyshenz (4 issues were published in 2005; in 2006, the magazine was no longer published) and the monthly Linux Format magazine published by the Mezon. Ru Group of Companies (including GNU/Linux Center) from September 2005 to this day, as well as thematic exhibitions and conferences: Open Source Forum, LinuxWorld (held only once in September 2005), Linux Land (SofTool satellite).

In addition, new distributions are emerging that focus on specialized tasks. So, in November 2004, NGO Network released the first commercial version of the MOPSLinux distribution, which was originally created for the needs of the enterprise itself and supported the operation of geoinformation systems. In 2005, Russian developer Cyber ​ ​ Systems Development introduced Sand Linux a hard real-time operating system that supports compatibility with executable files of traditional Linux and meets POSIX 1003.1b and 1003.1c standards.

Thus, by the end of 2006, the Russian market for server solutions based on SPO reached, in terms of the supply of products and services, a significant degree of maturity. At that time, both domestic and Western Linux system suppliers worked on the market, there were certified software and hardware solutions with enterprise-level support, custom development was carried out, documentation and manuals were published in Russian, a number of training centers offered training courses on GNU/Linux.

During this period, as a result of the efforts of Western vendors to promote certified solutions based on GNU/Linux to their large customers, the Russian software market began to stratify: the interests of strong Russian development teams (ALT Linux, ASPLinux, etc.) shifted towards government organizations and the medium-sized business segment.

By the end of 2006, the degree of penetration of SPOs into the IT infrastructure of Russian enterprises was very high. Without exaggeration, we can say that at least 80% of Russian companies used this or that special software from the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) on servers. In the large business segment, the degree of uptake of SPO was even higher due to the longer development of IT infrastructures of large companies, which in different historical periods implemented Unix, Windows, and GNU/Linux. Small businesses in Russia, unlike the West, did not use SPO solutions so actively, mainly due to the widespread spread of computer piracy. In a situation of rather narrow IT tasks of a small company and the absence of a qualified IT specialist, representatives of small businesses preferred affordable counterfeit copies of the usual proprietary software.

Despite the widespread use of open source software in server implementations, until 2007 the Russian market for open source software-based solutions and services developed rather slowly and was largely limited to the deployment of server infrastructures in-house by customer specialists with a small share of external consulting and support. On workstations and home PCs, SPO was practically not used due to the already mentioned availability of pirated proprietary software, as well as due to the lack of applied user and specialized programs or their localized versions in the Russian market. One of the rare examples of SPO penetration on a mass PC at that time can only be considered the gradual spread of the free Mozilla Firefox web browser.

In this state, the Russian SPO market approached one of the turning points of its history, which can be considered the Ponosov case.

New Player - RedSoft

In 2006 , RedSoft, a Russian open source solution developer, began operating on the market .

2003: Creation of a working group on open software under the Ministry of Communications

At the end of 2003, a working group on the use of open source software was formed under the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Russian Federation, which includes the Voskhod Research Institute, the Research Institute of Automatic Equipment and a number of other organizations and commercial companies. The creation of this group testifies to the sufficient penetration of the SPO into the IT infrastructures of state organizations, as well as to the emergence of interest of industry departments in this area of ​ ​ informatization. In particular, the first stages of the development of specialized systems based on Linux of the Mobile System of the Armed Forces (MSVS, developer of VNIINS named after V.V. Solomatina) and the software and hardware complex Atlix UTs (developers - FSUE NTC Atlas, FSB Russia and Crypto-Pro) have already been completed in the law enforcement agencies.

2000-2001: Increase in the number of SPO suppliers

The readiness of the server system sector to make software solutions, the presence of interest and customer needs leads in 2000-2001. to the rapid development and expansion of the number of companies operating in the GNU/Linux market.

During this period, IPLabs Linux Team converts to ALT Linux and begins to release a completely remapped localized distribution based on Mandrake, and also moves to industrial disk production, commercial promotion of products and support services. Linux Ink, created on the basis of UrbanSoft and Lynx BCC in late 1999 and releasing a localized Linux Cyrillic Edition distribution based on Red Hat, begins to work actively. Linuxcenter (later renamed GNU/Linuxcenter under the impression of communicating with R. Stallman during his visit to Russia in March 2008) and Linux-Online are organized, focused on promoting a wide range of software and information products in the SPO market (by the mid-2000s Linux-Online abandons the development of multivendor distribution and focuses on promoting its own non-free distribution Linux XP). ASPLinux begins its own development and releases ASPLinux Release Candidate 3, the first test version of its distribution. In March 2001, ASPLinux announced the merger with Black Cat Linux, and the first final version of ASPLinux is already being released jointly.

The Russian SPO market is entering a new phase of development: if up to this point it was dominated by retail user demand and the player companies focused on the development and, in part, simple distribution of discs through retail chains of third organizations, then by 2001 this market began reorienting to the classic B2B business model. In particular, ASPLinux, simultaneously with the development of its own product, was actively engaged in the creation of an infrastructure for its support and commercial promotion: in 2001, the company entered into agreements with distributors of media products and software, began to certify equipment for compatibility with the ASPLinux distribution, signed the first OEM agreements with manufacturers of equipment, and also developed technical support programs for its products and training.

The interest of the SPO developers in the corporate market is also indicated by the creation by ALT Linux of the Intel SOHO Server solution in the same 2001, as well as the beginning of custom development for the needs of government agencies. Later, in 2001-2005 ALT Linux creates, in addition to OEM (SOHO Server) server products and desktop solutions, for example, specialized distributions of Junior and Compact, optimized for use on MaxSelect and iRu laptops.

The increase in the number of companies that have stable Linux systems development teams and are focused on the commercial promotion of relevant products and services contributes to the further spread of STOs in government agencies and commercial companies in Russia. The Russian SPO market is gradually moving from the simple sale of boxed products to the creation and promotion of SPO solutions. During this period, production implementations use not only GNU/Linux, but also complete solutions for mail, computing and web infrastructures based on Apache, Postfix, Samba and other software.

Meanwhile, the large-scale implementation of GNU/Linux and SPO in Russian organizations faces serious problems, including the incompatibility of GNU/Linux with popular applications (and the lack of free analogues for accounting, financial and other specialized programs). In order to provide services for the development of solutions based on the ALT Linux operating system and expand the range of use of free software in new areas, at the end of 2003 Vitaly Lipatov created the company Etersoft, which gained fame due to the refinement of Wine for launching domestic business applications with its help - first of all, 1C, Guarantor, Consultant. Currently, Etersoft products are compatible with most widely used GNU/Linux distributions.

The work on localizing the user application software is gradually being intensified, ALT Linux is officially part of the OpenOffice.org office suite development community, in 2003 ATI localizes the StarOffice office suite by order of SUN Microsystems, and Infra-Resource is being organized, which is engaged in the implementation and assembly of its own version OpenOffice.org.

1998: Basic packages of open source software for schools in Russia developed

The background of the basic packages of programs on informatics, their development, implementation and distribution in schools in Russia and the CIS countries began in the late 1990s, when the basic packages of programs were developed for domestic personal computers BC, Corvette and UKNC and distributed in the form of Open and Free software for schools.

All secondary schools in Russia in 2008-2009. received basic packages of licensed commercial and free open source software for teaching computer literacy, the basics of computer science and new information technologies with Windows and Linux operating systems.

In four regions of Russia in 2008-2009. launched work on the implementation and use in secondary schools of basic software packages for computer science and computer engineering rooms and began training teachers and computer science teachers of open source software technology in Windows and Linux environments.

According to the Information Security Doctrine of Russia, training in computer literacy and computer science should be accompanied by legal education in training in protecting information in computers, protecting against computer viruses, porn sites and ensuring information security in local and global computer networks based on free open source software.

1970s - 1990s

First steps

The prerequisites for the development of SPO in Russia can be considered the study and development of UNIX systems, which took place in the late 70s and early 80s. last century in various research institutes of the USSR. In particular, work on the creation of domestic UNIX-like systems was carried out at the Institute of Atomic Energy. I.V. Kurchatov, Institute of Applied Cybernetics (IPK) of the Ministry of Automotive Industry, Institute of Electronic Control Machines. In the course of these works, not only UNIX-like operating systems DEMOS, MNOS and INMOS were created, which soon began to be used on computer equipment available in the country, but also professional teams of specialists with experience in developing UNIX solutions were formed. For ten years, from the moment the UNIX development teams of the Kurchatov Institute and the IPC of the Ministry of Automotive Industry were merged in 1984 to the early 90s, when a freely distributed version of UNIX FreeBSD appeared, the process of distributing DEMOS OS in government agencies and the industrial sector took place in the USSR and (later) Russia.

The company Demos, which was engaged in its development and support, as well as the construction of computer networks, actually contributed to the popularization of UNIX among a wide range of specialists, which created the basis for the subsequent development of FreeBSD, GNU/Linux and Free Software (SPO) in the professional environment of Russian programmers. In 1990, Demos established information exchange with the Internet through the provider segment in Finland and thus expanded the possibilities of mastering Western technologies not only for academic and research organizations, but also for commercial structures and their employees.

As around the world, the use of SPO in Russia began and developed most actively in the higher education system. In the 90s. Last century, university centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and other cities of Russia begin to receive Western grants to organize Internet access. The process of exchange of scientific and technical information between specialists from Russia and the West is intensified, and soon after the advent of GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (1991 and 1993, respectively), these systems are already actively studied and used in the professional university environment.

At the same time, the number of Russians traveling abroad is growing, and thus the first GNU/Linux distributions on physical media begin to appear and spread in Russia. The development of the SPO during this period is characterized by the predominance of private initiative of specialists and is focused mainly on technical aspects, and not on the ideology of the Free Software movement or commercial issues. However, an important point is that already during this period, Russian specialists not only use the obtained GNU/Linux and FreeBSD distributions, but also begin work on the development of the Linux kernel and Russification of systems, freely exchanging the results of this work. Thus, already in the mid-90s. in Russia, a community of users and developers of open source software begins to form.

1995 is one of the important stages in the history of the development of the SPO in Russia. At this time, the first sales of GNU/Linux boxed distributions began, these were Slackware and Red Hat kits with a set of additional applications and documentation in English. Distribution of boxed versions was carried out by such companies as MediaHouse, ElectroTECH Multimedia, Complink. Thus, the SAT becomes available to specialists who did not have access to the Internet (and there were most of them at that time). At the same time, not only spontaneous, but also organized work on Russification of GNU/Linux is already underway, UrbanSoft Russifies Slackware, and then Red Hat. The presence of solvent demand for GNU/Linux and the interest of commercial companies in this product actually marks the emergence of the SPO market in Russia.

In 1996, UrbanSoft released the Open Core first Russified software package, which contained, in particular, Red Hat, Slackware and FreeBSD distributions, Hurd and Mach kernels, as well as Cyrillic fonts and keyboard layouts, a dictionary for spell checking and documentation translated into Russian. In 19961997 there was a surge in activity in the field of Russification and promotion of GNU/Linux: one after another, Russified distributions of Red Cap, KSI Linux, Linux-Yes and Black Cat are released. Russified boxed versions were distributions with localized to one degree or another installation utilities, control panels and system messages, as well as various sets of software for working on the Internet, with texts and graphics (in particular, Netscape Communicator, TeX, GIMP, etc.). In 1997, in Kyiv, one of the first in the Russian-speaking space of manuals on the open source translation of R. Petersen's book Linux: an operating system manual. Basic localization makes SPO available to a wider range of users, discussion of released distributions in a specialized computer press begins, which in turn contributes to the further popularization of these products.

The end of the 90th century in Russia was marked by the explosive development of broadband Internet access (at least in the largest cities), which made it possible for almost all interested specialists to download new versions of GNU/Linux and software and participate in the activities of international teams of software developers. In 1998, the IPLabs Linux Team project was created, which played an important role in the distribution of software on the Russian market. IPLabs Linux Team members are building active ties with major Western distribution developers Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, the Debian project and are constantly developing and localizing software. In 1999, IPLabs Linux Team released Linux Mandrake 6.0 Russian Edition with high-quality documentation and fairly complete Russification. IPLabs Linux Team developments contribute to the localization of the StarOffice suite of office applications, which by the end of the 90s. used in Linux Mandrake Russian Edition, Black Cat and other Russian-language versions of distributions.

In addition to development and localization, IPLabs Linux Team is also active in information activities in the field of software and software issues regular reports, translates and publishes in 1999 the first books in Russia under the GNU GPL Guide to installing and using the Linux system M. Welsh and Guide to GNU Emacs R. Stallman. In the same year, at least a dozen other textbooks and reference books on GNU/Linux are published.

Thus, by 1999, Russia had almost completely created a technological base for the implementation of open source software as a server platform and laid the basic foundations of the infrastructure for supporting such solutions. All the main distributions of GNU/Linux Red Hat, SUSE, Debian, Mandrake, Slackware, Stampede are available in Russian, FreeBSD is widely used, there is partially localized application software, a certain number of tutorials and Russian-language documentation have been released. The number of stable teams of SPO developers is limited, the number of each of them is small, so resources are concentrated mainly on technical issues of development and localization of the distributions themselves. At the same time, a fairly wide range of technical specialists working in public and private organizations are familiar with the software and experimentally uses the GNU/Linux OS in server installations, in particular for mail and web servers in the telecommunications sector. The number of SAT installations on workstations is singular and limited to amateur or specialized technical installations.

Features of development of the development industry and the market of open source solutions in Russia

The Russian SPO industry in the first stages of its development largely lagged behind the Western one, due to the relative isolation of the country and the lack of broadband Internet access^[28]. In addition, integration into the Western developer community, adaptation and application of already created products to a certain extent hindered the language barrier and the need for Cyrillic localization of products. Large development teams have long operated only in the central regions of Russia, while the American and European communities already had a widely distributed and well-integrated network of development centers.

The consequence of such a long gap from world practice, which is still observed, was a relatively small number of uniquely Russian teams and projects for the development of applied software. At the moment when Russian developers had access to foreign experience, powerful, developed SPO projects already existed in the West, so the logical move of domestic specialists was to join the existing international teams, and not to create their own unique products from scratch. Russian programmers actively participated and participate in the development and localization of all popular distributions, as well as in PostgreSQL, Samba, Xen, etc. In recent years, Russian teams of developers of open source DBMS, GIS and other specialized software have appeared, integrated into the world community of developers, but with local specifics. Thus, we can say that the development of the SPO development industry in Russia went reversibly (compared to the West), from almost complete internationalization to the gradual formation of its own local projects.

On the other hand, the system for training engineering personnel in Russia massively produced enough qualified specialists who individually mastered and used Linux technologies in their work and, although they did not participate in international projects for developing software, created the basis for its implementation. Thanks to this, by the time of the emergence of corporate solutions based on open source software from suppliers such as SAP or Oracle, the gap between the domestic and western markets of open source software was already minimal: in Russia there was a prepared server infrastructure, localized products, and a certain number of specialists who could administer open source solutions on the ground.

Market size

2010

According to Pingwin Software, in 2010 the volume of the Russian SPO market amounted to 3 billion rubles.

2009

According to a study published by the OpenNet.ru portal, according to the results of 2009, the volume of the SPO market in Russia amounted to 2.2 billion rubles. For 2012, the portal predicted market growth to 5 billion rubles.

Use of free software in government agencies

In 2010, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved a plan for the transition of federal authorities and federal budgetary institutions to the use of the SPO in 2011-2015.

Шаблон:Main 'Free Software (SPO) in the Russian Public Sector

Use of free software in educational institutions

In October 2007, an order was issued by the Prime Minister, according to which the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Communications were ordered to ensure the development and implementation of open source education in schools according to the list of programs included in the basic software package. This initiative was one of the first and main incentives for the development of the SPO market in Russia.

Основная статья: Free software in educational institutions of Russia

Domestic software

Main article: Russian Software (Domestic Software)

Notes

When preparing this article, the materials of the study of Liubov Aronova were used.