“MyOffice” focuses on Microsoft – Newspaper Kommersant No. 230 (7431) dated 12/12/2022
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As it became known to Kommersant, the developer of the MyOffice office suite requested state grants to finalize its software. We are talking about both interface elements and the ability to translate macros (embedded in program documents) written in the Microsoft programming language. Among the customers are Rosatom and Russian Railways, which already use MyOffice. The developer substantiates the project by the fact that “in the conditions of cyberwarfare” the use of Microsoft products threatens the economy. But experts note that macro viruses are now not dangerous, and it is important for users to comply not with specific software, but with broader standards.
Kommersant got acquainted with the passports of projects to replace foreign software sent by New Cloud Technologies (the developer of the MyOffice office suite) to the Industrial Competence Center (ICC) Office Software, which is supervised by the Ministry of Digital Development. We are talking about finalizing the functionality of the office suite, the state corporation Rosatom and JSC Russian Railways were named as customers. The project costs are estimated in general at the level of 1.69 billion rubles, grants have been requested for 1.38 billion rubles.
Of the three applications, only one was approved – for the development of a translator of macros (programs embedded in documents) from the VBA programming language from Microsoft Office to the Lua used by the Russian office suite. The rationale for the project states that the use of Microsoft Office “in a cyber war” threatens the Russian economy. At the same time, according to the document, macros in the Microsoft language are stored in 20% of documents in Russian Railways.
New Cloud Technologies declined to comment, Rosatom and the Ministry of Digital Development did not respond to inquiries. A representative of Russian Railways told Kommersant that the company is aware of the New Cloud Technologies initiatives, but did not confirm the proportion of macros mentioned in the documents. “We have not conducted such a study,” they said. At the same time, the monopoly clarified that when state-owned companies choose a new supplier of office software, “the issue of converting proprietary (patented, closed software.— “b”) format will be relevant”.
Two other projects sent to the ICC relate to adding to MyOffice functions that are available in editors from Microsoft Office: moving a range of cells in a table with the mouse, previewing import results, tracking changes in text, etc. Services that were present in foreign office suites , “allowed to increase labor productivity, and office work in companies adapted precisely for them,” one of the passports explains. The developers of the package also plan to add the ability to create documents with an attached (embedded in a file) electronic signature.
Macros were actively used in the early 2000s, before the advent of modern automation tools, and now their use is “considered inappropriate,” says Vladimir Ulyanov, head of the Zecurion analytical center. VBA, according to him, is not very common as a means of delivering malicious code. “It is quite easy to detect macro viruses both with the help of network gateways and at the level of workstations. For targeted attacks, social engineering methods are more effective,” he notes. The use of macros in 20% of documents is a “depressing level” typical for large companies with a large number of branches in remote regions, Mr. Ulyanov added.
For software customers, it is not so much the comparability of the user interface of one editor with the interface of another that is important, but its compliance with general principles, says Nikolai Komlev, Executive Director of the Association of Computer and Information Technologies Enterprises. Such principles were formed and adapted by IBM, Microsoft and Apple back in the 1970s and 1980s, “since then, developers have realized that, whatever creators they want to be, the interface should be standard.” If different office suites follow the same principles, the expert added, then users spend less time and effort on switching between them.
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