The article goal is to throw light upon a condition of affairs with migration to LibreOffice in the Russian Federation territory, for the LibreOffice community of users.

Instead of the preface

Before you start reading, I would like to say a few words about this article.

First, I did not set any goals, except to highlight the condition of affairs with migration to LibreOffice.

Secondly, all mentioned Linux distributions are mentioned, only for the logical presentation and showing some possible inaccuracies in assessment when reading the news. Neither the presence of LibreOffice in a Linux distribution, nor the absence of LibreOffice in the distribution, do not say anything about using LibreOffice itself.

Third, on the basis of the first two points, I did not pay much attention to large migrations to Linux, if from the available information is clearly not followed by the use of LibreOffice.

Fourth, the search for information was carried out in search engines Google, Yandex, DuckDuckRo. Used both an analysis of all the links for the LibreOffice keyword, and targeted search by departments and enterprises. Also, messages in LibreOffice communities were analyzed.

Fifthly, because of search algorithms in search engines, search settings on sites of region administrations, no providing by administrations and state enterprises (or providing outdated or incomplete information), it is not always possible to find the necessary information. Looking for information on some regions, which I was sure that they are moving to LibreOffice, took me hours, and just to make sure that they really started a pilot project.

Sixth, I excluded information from sources that clearly prohibit or significantly complicate the use of the information that published in their materials. In all cases this does not affect the results of the work, since the information on the migrations mentioned by them is either not accurate or based on supposition.

Due to all of the above, this article does not in any way pretend to be complete.

References to the sources of information will be at the end of the article. I allowed myself to translate the names of the articles so that it would be easier for you to navigate in the topics. So you can easily double-check my logic (if you know Russian) by following them. I also included links to additional information (mostly articles in English from Wikipedia) about regions or enterprises, if you want to know more about them. Almost all sources are in Russian. I put (ENG) at the end of a link, if the information is by the link in English.

Federal government

Healthcare in Russia

According to Cnews, Russian medicine had 45,000 computers under the management of ALT Linux in 2013 [1]. In a presentation for September 2017, Kroes showed that there are 25,000 workstations running under ALT Linux with LibreOffice in the Department of Public Health of Moscow. About the remaining 20,000 I have not found the information [2].

Federal Bailiffs Service

About migration to the GosLinux of Federal Bailiffs Service [3] probably everything know. First they started using OpenOffice.org. Then in 2011 they switched to LibreOffice [4]. In an article on the Digital.Report site by Natalya Zvyagina, Head of the Information Technology Department of Federal Bailiffs Service, says that since 2012 the company has introduced its own information system. What she mean by this I do not understand. Most likely they are developing their own document automation. But its goals and opportunities are not described. For April 2016, there is information from the administration of Federal Bailiffs Service in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, that LibreOffice is built into the GosLinux distribution [5]. At the beginning of 2017, GosLinux was deployed on 29,758 (62.4%) workstations from 47,620. Federal Bailiffs Service planned to achieve 75% of the implementation of GosLinux before the end of 2017. That is, maybe else up to 6,000 workstations (they still have servers).

Regional administrations and their subdivisions

Stavropol Krai

Stavropol Krai [6] begin a migration to Open Source in 2011 [7]. In 2012, it should migrate 50% workplaces. But we know nothing about the migration ending. There is information about Federal Government Budgetary Institution “Government Center of Agrochemical Service Stavropolsky”, which has a page on the site with a recommendation to use LibreOffice from 2015 [8].

Vladimir Oblast

A site of the Vladimir Oblast [9] government has an article about migration of 170 workplaces to GosLinux [10]. The Tadviser site has information that LibreOffice is used [11]. Also a list of those regional departments and municipalities is given, which affected by the pilot project. Regional departments: Management of Document Circulation; Management on the Appeal of Citizens; Informatization committee; Committee on Youth Policy. Administration of municipalities: the Murom city; Melenkovsky district; Suzdal region; ZATO (closed territorial formation) Raduga.

Lipetsk Oblast

In the Lipetsk Oblast [12], only one company can be mentioned. It is Regional Autonomous Institution "Government Expertise Office of the Lipetsk Oblast" [13]. I did not find any mention of migration to LibreOffice, and from the text on the page you can not make a strict conclusion about using LibreOffice. But the dry "Recommended LibreOffice" clearly indicates a desire for maximum compatibility of documents with the used software.

Moscow Oblast

The website of the Moscow Oblast [14] Duma has news about purchase of 1,102 computers running under ALT Linux with installed LibreOffice [15]. The text also says "Hardware and software for 3,376 workstation was purchased". But it does not specify which one. The BaseALT wiki says that 4,028 workplaces have been put into service into: Election Commission of the Moscow Oblast; Ministry of Housing and Communal Services of the Moscow Oblast; Ministry of Culture of the Moscow Oblast; Ministry of Social Development of the Moscow Oblast; Ministry of State Menegment, Information Technologies and Communications of the Moscow Oblast; State Budgetary Healthcare Institution of the Moscow Oblast "Krasnogorsk City Hospital No. 2"; Ministry of Health of the Moscow Oblast; State Public Institution of the Moscow Oblast "Directorate of a single customer of the Ministry of Health of the Moscow Oblast" [16]. And since most likely about 10% of the delivered software of BaseALT is servers, it can be assumed that now there are about 3,600 computers use LibreOffice.

It is also necessary to mention the State-Financed Institution “Mosavtodor” [17]. In 2016, it migrated to Linux and LibreOffice [18]. In the message there is a phrase "use of software without license restrictions allows us not to expend additional budget money for connecting each new employee", and then the figure is 1,000 – 4,000. And frankly speaking, it creates the feeling that the wrongly written name LibreOffice, either was named without good reason or entered by editors. In last year's article newspaper "Vedomosti" says too that the State-Financed Institution Mosavtodor uses LibreOffice [19]. But it does not know. It says that the Federal Bailiffs Service uses OpenOffice when the Federal Bailiffs Service has used already LibreOffice for 6 years [4]. So for me the question is still open.

Rostov Oblast

The only subdivision about which we know is the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Rostov Oblast [20]. The article of the "Expert Center for Electronic State" site says that migration to LibreOffice began in 2014 [21]. Features of use, including the number of migrated workstations are not reported.

Ulyanovsk Oblast

In the Ulyanovsk Oblast [22] is known only about the migration of the Oblast State-financed Institution "Agency for the development of rural areas of the Ulyanovsk Oblast" from the article by Oleg Markelov [23]. In April 2017, 59 (42%) from 140 workstation had OS Astra Linux and preinstalled LibreOffice. They want to continue the migration to Astra Linux, but they can not yet. Computers running Windows have or not LibreOffice is not known.

Tambov Oblast

The Tambov Oblast [24] began its migration in 2011 [25]. They have a page dedicated to LibreOffice [26]. Also there is a page with methodical instructions [27]. Sites have not been updated for a long time, but LibreOffice is recommended for viewing ODF documents on all sites in the region (for example [28]). Files are place out in open access as PDF and ODF. The last ODT file I found is dated August 16, 2017 [29]. I did not find any reports on the implementation. The BaseALT wiki has information that they have delivered 5,617 workstations to hospitals in the Tambov Oblast, but this is not an indicator of using LibreOffice [16]. It is incorrect to draw conclusions about the successful implementation of LibreOffice on the having data. Although such a conclusion, probably, would be logical.

Tyumen Oblast

The migration of Tyumen Oblast [30] started in 2016 [31]. To date, the 100% of workstations has transferred to LibreOffice. Approximate number is 2,000, but in addition it is implemented in the regions and subordinated institutions [32]. MS Office remains on a part of the computers for compatibility of workflow with federal government agencies. The internal format is ODF.

Also, the portal "Support Center for Open Source software and import substitution in the Tyumen Oblast" [33] was opened, on which a knowledge base has been created and important news for the project has been publishing. And within the environment of the program of the Governor of the Tyumen Oblast to increase the computer literacy of the population "Expanding Horizons" a guide was published, in which a couple of chapters are devoted to ODF and LibreOffice [34].

Chelyabinsk Oblast

In the article "The experience of import substitution in the public agency and municipal authorities of the Chelyabinsk Oblast [35]" is said that the migration of public agency and municipal authorities is planned for OS Astra Linux and LibreOffice [36]. In 2017, 53 (1.9%) from 2,750 workstation were transferred. Until 2020, it is planned to gradually raise this figure to 2,500 workstation (90.9%). I understand this figure does not include projects in the Department of Social Protection of Population of the Chelyabinsk Oblast and the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of the Chelyabinsk Oblast. The first installed 1,100 workstation with Astra Linux. And 84% (the exact number is not indicated) of workstation was transferred to Astra Linux in the Ministry of IT.

Since the Department of Social Protection of Population and Mininform were pilot projects and LibreOffice has been planned for further migration, it would be logical to assume that LibreOffice has been used in their workplaces. There are no specific figures in the report and I have not found any more information on this issue on the web.

Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra

According to the TAdviser site, LibreOffice is installed at 70% of workplaces [37] in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra [38]. It also says that the formation of assemblies and the development of the LibreOffice functional. But on a website of the government there is the article that says: "Yugra has been already testing the capabilities of the server and client operating system ALT Linux" and "also implementation of domestic office software МойОфис" [39]. Pay attention to the word "implementation". But ... in the presentation published on 02.02.2018 is said about the implementation of LibreOffice in the public agency [40]. Also there is a presentation on the Import substitution page, in which, in addition to LibreOffice, other office suits are not even discussed [41]. So the phrase by Natalia Vladimirovna about the implementation of МойОфис, either a slip of the tongue, or editorial revision. I did not find the information about the number of workstations. Theoretically, in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug should be approximately the same as in the Tyumen Oblast, that is 2,000 – 2,500 workstation. But this is all speculation.

Kaluga city

In Kaluga city [42] the migration started in 2016 [43]. By order of the City Head, all municipal organizations and institutions were transferred to LibreOffice. The number of migrated workstations is not known.

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city

In an interview of the TAdviser site with Deputy Head of Information Management of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city [44] Administration of Alexei Chan in 2016 is said that the migration to LibreOffice was implemented in a volume of 100% in 2010 [45]. The number of workstations is not specified, but it follows from the text that the document management system is used by 1,500 people. So this figure can be taken as a minimum, since if a person uses an DMS, then with almost 100% probability is uses the application to work with the text.

Companies

PJSC “Russian Helicopters”

In October 2016, LibreOffice was installed on user computers of Russian Helicopters [46] and document circulation was switched to the ODF standard [47]. A typical configuration based on Astra Linux should be completed at the end of 2018. The migration should fully completed in 2019.

The program of training courses "The Basics of work in AstraLinux and LibreOffice", developed by Russian Disability NGO "STRATEGY" together with the Moscow State University M.V. LOMONOSOV, was purchased. [48,49].

According to the message, it is not clear how many workstations migrate. There is presentation which say that, in the corporation, АО «МВЗ», АО «КАМОВ», ПАО «КВЗ», ПАО «Роствертол», АО «У-УАЗ», ПАО «Прогресс», АО «КумАПП», АО «Редуктор-ПМ», АО «810 АРЗ», АО «ВСК» daughter companies already migrated (there is a graph on the link) in May 2017 [50]. There remain on schedule eight daughter companies. That with the rest of the daughter companies and dependent businesses, nothing is said.

Another question that may arise here: "What about holding Rostec?" I mean, what is with its remaining part. Russian Helicopters was a pilot project as part of mother company Rostec [51]. It was announced this as much in 2015 [52]. Rostec developed the own system, and even implemented in the daughter's daughter company (read below). And, in theory, other daughter of Rostec should have LibreOffice too. I don’t know, it's only thoughts

PJSC “VimpelCom”

The TAdviser site says VimpelCom [53] had 15% LibreOffice in 2017 [54]. What is 15%? I don’t know. There is also a figure on the site that 21,700 people work in the company. But you understand that there are brigades of fitters, cleaners, and etc. So the figure of 3,255 workstations with LibreOffice is a fantasy. I do not know how many workstations work with LibreOffice.

LLC “Gazprom Teploenergo Yaroslavl”

It is small company in comparison with the previous ones. It is engaged in servicing the heating systems of the Yaroslavl city and, as the name suggests, is an affiliate company of Gazprom [55]. On the official site, a report for the first quarter of 2011 has the sentence: "Additional use of the LibreOffice editor is permissible for performing the necessary calculations." [56] All documents on the site either in ODT or in PDF. The website also has a line: "For working with documents, we recommend free LibreOffice in accordance with GOST R ISO/IEC 26300-2010", which is a link to the LibreOffice download page. It should be noted that the GOST R ISO/IEC 26300-2010 regulates using of the ODF standard, but not LibreOffice, as can follow from the quote.

It is not clear they are using it now. The company is still alive, but LLC under Russian law is not required to disclose information, and the latest documents are dated 2014.

“Kodeks” ltd

The information about Kodeks [57] came from the report of Ivan Anatolyevich Khakhaev [58]. According to the report it is clear that from 415 workstations, only 51 people used LibreOffice in 2017. There is a desire to bring this figure to 290. It is interesting that among the reasons for using MSO is ignorance that they have LibreOffice on their workstations.

PJSC “PROGRESS”

In my opinion, the only company from the daughters of Russian Helicopters, which reported about the migration. But according to their information, they migrate to OS "ОСь" which developed "National Center of Informatization" LLC [59, 60]. Until the end of 2017, I quote, "Microsoft Office will be replaced with domestic (Russian – author's note) LibreOffice." [61] And further on the text "... now writing of text will be made in the program Writer. Its external view is similar to Word... »(either they had previously MSO before the 2007 version, or they politely portray Linus). They do not indicate a number of workstations.

PJSC “Typhoon”

PJSC «Typhoon» [62] started migration in 2015 [63]. Video with the report did not find, so all information from official sources is presented on the 3rd slide of the presentation. That LibreOffice is installed on approximately 1,500 computers is known from the user (KAI KAI) in the comment on the Russian article [64].

EVRAZ plc

About Evraz [65] was already spoken more than once, and all the same I would like to do a few comments for an aggregate picture. In fact, it is not clear who specifically migrated. It started migration in 2014 due to sanctions from MicroSoft [66]. At the same time CNews FORUM 2014 was said that "we have thousands of employees working with it (LibreOffice – author's note)" [67]. How many are not specifically indicated. In an interview with CNews in 2016, Natrusov said more restrainedly that only part of employees use LibreOffice, which allows them to reduce costs. But on TAdviser SummIT 2016, Natrusov already said that LibreOffice is used for inactive users [68]. (Inactive in what? Those who do not use an office suite? Or those who are on vacation? :)) The statements are very strange. In short, about Evraz, over the past 3.5 years I have had only questions.

Rumors and Unconfirmed Information

Sberbank of Russia

In May 2017, Roman Kuznetsov (one of testers and translators LibreOffice) made a note that says about the overall migration of Sberbank [69] to LibreOffice [70]. There are no links in the note. I did not find any confirmation in the Internet. There are vacancies from Sberbank (for example, [71]), in which there is also a requirement for ability to work in LibreOffice. But the reason for these requirements is known only to the personnel department. On the other hand, in October there was news that Sberbank was becoming an Office 365 service provider [72]. All this information is indirect and does not allow us to assert or deny that Sberbank migrates to LibreOffice.

Citigroup

The article about the migration Citigroup appeared on the site OpenNET [73]. The article was disseminated by some news agencies, bloggers and even printed editions. There was no more news. It gives figures: the first migration wave of 31 thousand employees, which is 10%. The article also says that $ 20 million will be saved. On the one hand, the agency news had to somehow check the information form the anonymous source, on the other hand, I do not see any evidence of this story. So, I still do not know.

Migrations together with Astra Linux

A presentation of Vadim Feofanovich Tatyuk (Director of the Competence Center of JSC "RPA RusBITech" in the Siberian Federal District) about Astra Linux [74] has a mention of Astra Linux implementations to Ministry of Defence, Federal Security Service, Federal Protective Service, Federal Penitentiary Service, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Federal Customs Service, Roscosmos, Rosatom, The National Defense Management Center, and many others (see presentation). It also speaks of the supply of 10,000 licenses on Astra Linux to state institutions of higher education. And although RPA RusBITech is one of the sponsors of LibreOffice [75], all the information that can be extracted from the presentation does not touch to LibreOffice, but only Linux.

Migrations together with ALT Linux

If you look in the BaseALT wiki, you will see: "Several hundred deliveries of operating systems of the ALT line" have been delivered to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Federal Portal of State Services, Rosatom and Roskosmos, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Federal Tax Service, and many other [16]. In addition, in response to a comment about the migration of LibreOffice, Mikhail Shigorin says "at least nadtsat dozen thousands of jobs" [76]. Nadtsat is word that can mean "from eleven to nineteen" in Russian. That is 110,000 – 190,000 of jobs. This number is too fuzzy. I can not discuss Mikhail's degree of awareness about the use of LibreOffice in enterprises, since I do not have idea about this. I know that Mikhail adapted LibreOffice for building on the Russian processor Elbrus. But for myself, I can not take into account of Linux installations without specific unambiguous figures about the implementation of LibreOffice.

From all the above, in the last two paragraphs it is clear that although we might speak of migrations to LibreOffice, in the fact, we have too little information.

Private conversations

In general, information is lots in private conversations. The scale of migration from 20-30 computers to several thousand. But here I do not have links to information confirming their transition. So, even though I know, but I can not confirm or deny. :)

Vacancies

One of the signs of the product popularity is its inclusion in the list of skill requirements on a job. Of course, the product is often specified just in case. But in the job offers, it often become necessary to know the knowledge of LibreOffice now. For example, there was the vacancy of a technical writer at PJSC "Azimut", or there was the vacancy from Dynamix Software for the developer who is the knowledgeable of LibreOffice code base and wishing to write for Android.

I did not do special research on this issue. This is what was found by chance.

Instead of concluding

After reading the article, you probably can estimate how many workstations was transferred to LibreOffice. It is very, very much. But according to the actually announced figures, it is 67,193 workstations. As I already mentioned, many regions and enterprises that have migrated to Open Source software do not let us know about this explicitly. But those who report often do not tell us the details of their migration.