Results of the conference on free software and the creation of a national Russian OS

    The Finam.ru website hosted the on-line conference “Free Software: A Balance of Pros and Cons”, which was attended by analysts and representatives of IT companies, including Alexey Smirnov (ALT Linux CEO) and Anatoly Yakushin (OpenOffice expert analyst. ru).

    One of the topics that were actively discussed was the prospects of creating a national operating system. Experts believe that the state should create more favorable conditions for the distribution of free software, but they considered the idea of ​​developing exclusively the Russian OS controversial.

    “As for the development of our own domestic operating system, this idea is more harmful than useful. It’s enough to recall the sad experience of creating an MSVS for the Russian armed forces. The fact is that the phenomenon of free software is international, there are no state borders. Apart from the world community of free programmers, it is simply impossible to create a product that is usable, ”said Anatoly Yakushin.

    “When developing your own version of the OS - and essentially your own Linux distribution - it is important first of all to keep in touch with international free software projects. The more actively Russian developers will participate in such projects, the more influence they will have on these projects. The influence there is largely proportional to the intellectual contribution. The gap from international development is fatal for such a project, ”added Aleksey Smirnov and gave several links with the question, maybe we will consider this a“ national OS ”?

    www.sisyphus.ru
    wiki.sisyphus.ru

    According to conference participants, now free software is quite capable of competing with Microsoft products. “There is competition that is escalating every year. The success of the projects of the Mozilla Foundation (Firefox), OpenOffice.org, the ever-increasing share of open source software in the server segment of the market is clear evidence of this. Already, free software is more than widespread. Suffice it to recall that more than 80% of all Internet resources are supported by servers running operating systems with free licenses. And this is unknown to the general user, ”said Mr. Yakushin.

    Experts believe that the state, first of all, should ensure the use of open standards in all development and supply for state needs. “It is also important that state purchases of software clearly formulate requirements not only for the technical characteristics of the product, but also for the volume of copyright property received,” said Mr. Smirnov. However, the active intervention of government agencies in the development of the open source software market seems to representatives of IT companies undesirable. “Free software is able to be competitive without government subsidies. The regulation of data formats by the state is enough, ”Mr. Yakushin expressed his opinion.

    Full transcript of the conference

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