Kazakhstan is rightfully proud of its achievements in digitalization. From advanced banking applications to the eGov portal.kz, we have proven that we are capable of implementing complex and convenient IT solutions on a national scale. Astana Hub has become a melting pot for a new generation of IT talents who are ready to create world-class innovations.

But today, when the foundations are laid, it's time for the question that any prudent owner who has built a house asks himself: how strong and independent is his foundation? Is it wise to build our digital future based on leased rather than proprietary technologies? We are talking about a strategic approach to basic software in the public sector.

In any budget, there are items of expenditure that are taken for granted. One of these items is the purchase of licenses for operating systems and office software for government needs. It is impossible to find an exact and uniform figure in open sources due to the decentralization of procurement, but we can make an assessment to understand the scale.

According to the Bureau of National Statistics, at the end of 2023, the number of civil servants in Kazakhstan was about 89 thousand people. However, the total number of public sector employees (including teachers, doctors, employees of national companies, etc.) is significantly higher. For our calculations, let's take the conservative figure of 500,000 jobs equipped with computers.

Now let's calculate the cost of licenses for 2025. Let's take the prices of corporate products from local suppliers:

• Windows 11 Pro OS: ~ 75,000 tenge (license)
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business package (annual subscription): ~ 60,000 tenge

We see two scenarios:

1. The perpetual license scenario (the old approach): With a 5-year technology upgrade cycle, the cost of equipping one workplace with an OS and an office is approximately 150,000 tenge. 500,000 (seats)×150,000 (tenge)=75,000,000,000tenge This is 75 billion tenge every 5 years, or an average of 15 billion tenge per year.
2. Subscription Scenario (new approach): The world is switching to subscription, and that means annual payments. 500,000 (seats)×60,000 (tenge/yearoffice)=30,000,000,000tenge/year To this you need to add the cost of licenses for the OS itself. In total, we are talking about expenses exceeding 30-40 billion tenge annually.

This is not an accusation, but a statement of fact: every year we send huge amounts of money abroad for the right to use basic software.

A prudent owner would ask himself the question: is it possible to invest this money in their own economy?

Switching to free software (PDF), such as Linux distributions (for example, Ubuntu, Astra Linux) and office suites (LibreOffice), is not just a way to save money. This is a strategic national project.

1. Investments in human capital. Instead of paying for licenses, we could direct these 30+ billion tenge per year to:

• Creation of national centers of competence for vocational education and training.
• Training and certification programs for tens of thousands of IT specialists.
• Higher salaries for system administrators in the public sector working with new technologies. We will start investing in our own people, not in shares of foreign corporations.

2. A catalyst for the local IT market. A large-scale government transition will create a huge domestic market. Astana Hub residents and other IT companies in Kazakhstan will receive contracts for:

• Technical support and consulting.
• Development of plug-ins and modules for compatibility with older systems.
• Creation of domestic distributions tailored to the needs of government agencies (as was done in Germany with the LiMux project in Munich).

3. Technological sovereignty and security. Using proprietary closed-source software in the government, we can never be 100% sure of its security. The open source code allows for independent auditing, including by our special services, for the absence of "bookmarks" and vulnerabilities. This is the foundation of national cybersecurity.

4. Education for the future. The younger generation growing up today will study and work on those technologies that are the standard.

By making open source software the state standard, we will educate a generation of engineers who think in terms of open systems, which will give impetus to innovation for decades to come.

The arguments of the opponents of the transition are well known: compatibility issues, the need for training, lack of support. In 2025, these arguments no longer look convincing.

• Compatibility: Step-by-step migration, the use of cloud technologies and containerization, as well as modern web standards for public services eliminate 90% of problems. Document management has long been possible and necessary to be converted to standardized formats such as PDF/A for archives and ODF (Open Document Format) for working files.
• Training: As we have already said, this is not an expense, but an investment. It takes several months to train a competent specialist to work in a new environment.
• Support: There are world leaders in commercial Linux support (Red Hat, Canonical), but more importantly, it is an ideal niche for Kazakhstani IT companies.

We urge the IT community and authorized government agencies to start a dialogue. To do this, we propose three specific steps:

1. To conduct an official, transparent audit of the current costs of licensed software in the public sector, so that everyone operates with accurate figures.
2. To launch a pilot project for the full transition to open source in one ministry or akimat in order to practice all procedures.
3. To form a working group of representatives of the public sector, business and experts on the basis of the Astana Hub to develop a national strategy for migration to the open source.

Building digital Kazakhstan on a rented foundation is fast, familiar, but short—sighted.

Building it on your own, open and controlled foundation is the path of a prudent owner who thinks about the well—being and independence of future generations.

Let's live within our means, thinking about our future generation.