Business In Hi-Tech

Microsoft offered Russian officials to use their software for free

Microsoft offered for temporary free use its software products that can help to fight against coronavirus and overcome the consequences of the epidemic for Russian government agencies.

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Free Microsoft for government agencies

Microsoft Corporation is ready to make free some of its services and technical support for Russian government agencies and their subordinate institutions. Gratuitous use can last for six months and for educational organizations even longer. The campaign is aimed to facilitate the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the products offered are cloud services for remote work and sharing, cybersecurity services, predictive analytics on the situation of the spread of coronavirus (in this part it’s about solutions from Microsoft partners), intelligent robots and solutions for medical institutions.

The Corporation actively cooperates with governments, public organizations and companies around the world, including Russia, and takes practical measures to overcome the consequences of the current situation in the world

The reaction and fears of the market

The majority of experts of the Russian market reacted to the American giant's offer with caution. So, Renat Lashin, the Executive Director of the Association of software developers "Domestic software", believes that it poses a threat to national security and should be considered by law enforcement agencies.

Valentin Makarov, the President of the Association "Russoft ", points out that previously Microsoft in Russia didn’t have competitors in traditional markets but in new markets, such as remote access solutions, domestic companies may well compete. At the same time, the idea of free provision of products and services is positive from a humanitarian point of view, according to him.

Ivan Begtin, the founder of the autonomous nonprofit organization “Information culture”, notes that in general Russian developers are not yet able to offer system solutions similar to those of Microsoft, Amazon or Google. Large Russian companies can do a lot but this is "not even 10%" of what world leaders provide, he says.

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Topics: National infrastructure and major projects