Until last year, the Russian IT market was critically dependent on imported software and technologies.For example, in 2021
After three years, about 92% of domestic companieswill use software based on Open Source, which will allow businesses and the public sector to minimize dependence on solutions from Western vendors. Starting your own software development from scratch is too long and labor-intensive, and it is also impossible without the competencies of highly qualified specialists, the shortage of which is now present on the Russian market.
AdvantagesOpen Source for Business
World trends in software development in recentdecade explicitly show a course towards the use of Open Source components and solutions, often available free of charge to a wide audience. From websites based on the visual part of which use popular frameworks, often available cloud services, and ending with serious industrial-grade solutions based on open libraries that speed up development and improve the quality of the final product.
Paid solutions with open, and more often closedsource code also retain their position, but even large international companies can develop a commercial version of the product and its free version, allowing other developers to use their developments.
For companies with commercial products, this is an opportunity to significantly expand the audience, test innovations, and get feedback froma huge number of users, which will allow you to eliminate errors in a timely manner (and they, alas, are presentanywhere and anytime) and bring new features to commercial versions, thereby increasing the value for paying customers.
Completely free and open-source solutions increase the reputation of their authors in society, and additional services such as paid consultations, assistance in setting up and improving work performance, and the creation of a full-fledged ecosystem with communities, training, exams, and offline meetings are sources of income for authors.At the same time, it is possible to use software products by a wide, almost unlimited, circle of people, if the terms of the license are observed, for example, by mentioning the names and authors of the components used in the documentation for the main product.
Some large IT companies, for example,popular social networks, develop open solutions completely free of charge, accessible to everyone, understanding their significance and opportunities, making their contribution to the development of the industry, within the framework of corporate social responsibility. In addition to it, there is an additional benefit - popular open source solutions attract enthusiasts who offer their modifications and improvements, which gives the authoring companies the opportunity to develop their internal products.
Benefits for the public sector
In government and large commercialCompanies in Russia over the past 10 years have also taken a course towards import substitution of proprietary paid products of foreign development with domestic ones developed by Russian companies using free and open source components. This allows you to reduce the recurring costs of maintaining a software license - in recent years, the subscription model has become popular, when the license is purchased not once, but annually, with the cost determined depending on a number of parameters, software functions, the number and configuration of the server hardware on which it works. Open source code allows, if necessary, without the participation of its authors, to conduct a detailed analysis, for example, for compliance with the requirements of the Federal technical and export control services (FSTEC) regarding work and data protection.
Obstacles to the development of domestic software based on Open Source
In the past year, developers have faced newcomplexities - some popular, widely used international libraries and software products turned out to be inaccessible in Russia on a regional basis. A significant part, some time after the blocking, became available again by the decision of their authors, but the risk of possible restrictions and changes in the licensing model of the products used gives a clear signal that even deeper import substitution and the creation of domestic analogues of the necessary software products are required, the importance of which has been repeatedly emphasized government, with a proposal to provide various types of support to IT companies in Russia.
Pitfalls and risks of Open Source
The main risk of using Open Sourceproducts, we can name the possibility of changing the terms of licenses that prohibit the use of libraries by Russian developers, which may lead to a violation of the terms of agreements on the license purity of the final product.
Another Open Source vulnerability is the lack ofa reliable financial basis, guarantees of normal operation, in-depth monitoring of vulnerabilities, since most projects are implemented by private individuals, and not by large IT companies with highly qualified specialists. It is also not uncommon that malicious code is deliberately inserted into an Open Source solution, which is used to penetrate the IT infrastructure of large companies in order to steal data or simply cause sabotage, leading to the failure of business processes.
Forecasts for the development of the Russian IT industries using Open Source
Back in 2021, forecasts appeared that by 2025This year, about 90% of Russian companies will use Open Source software. Last year, the prospects of using open source when creating domestic IT products became a necessity due to the departure of Western vendors from the Russian market. In this connection, a pilot project has begun in Russia to create a repository of open source software products, the result of which should become known in April 2023. The project is aimed at continuing to create the country's technological sovereignty and, judging by the number of participants, should really help achieve this goal.
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