Official sales of software from Microsoft were reduced by 78%

In January-June, sales of operating systems (OS) from Microsoft decreased by 78%, Softline says. The trend is confirmed by other integrators and distributors. They claim that stocks delivered before the official withdrawal of the company from Russia are now being sold. However, companies can also purchase software through the corporation’s partners in the CIS. The share of Windows on the infrastructure of private companies still reaches 99%, and state – 50%. Experts and market participants expect an acceleration of the transition to Russian operating systems only as the fleet of vehicles is updated.

According to the results of the first half of 2023, sales of digital copies of Windows OS decreased in units by 78% year-on-year, Softline told Kommersant. Sales of boxed versions of Windows, added to the integrator, fell tenfold.

The trend is confirmed in Croc: according to a company representative, the share of Microsoft products in the Russian market is significantly reduced due to the transition of companies to Russian solutions, as well as a reduction in the vendor’s presence in Russia. “According to our estimates, the stock of boxed versions on the Russian market is insignificant. It is not enough to cover all the needs of existing IT infrastructures of large customers,” said Alexander Sysoev, Head of Infrastructure Solutions at Croc.

Softline says that stock balances are now being sold and “the process of disabling the possibility of purchasing the product online is being gradually implemented.” Stocks of Microsoft products, imported by distributors even before the complete ban on supplies, “have come or are already coming to an end,” Marvel Distribution confirms. However, even with the remaining inventory, there are problems: “We have the remnants of the boxed Microsoft 365, despite the fact that they were imported even before the end of the supply, they will not be able to be activated.”

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, a number of foreign suppliers, including Microsoft, limited the supply of products to Russia (see Kommersant dated March 4, 2022).

In June, RIA Novosti, citing a statement by Microsoft President Brad Smith, said that the company intends to reduce its presence in Russia “until it leaves completely.” Then citizens reacted to Microsoft’s decision with a surge in downloads of pirated versions of Windows 10 (see Kommersant dated June 27, 2022).

Now domestic companies can purchase software from Microsoft in two ways, says Kommersant’s interlocutor in a Russian developer of office software. “The first one is physical, a boxed version of Windows with an activation code goes to Russia via parallel import. The second way is the supply of non-named licenses to Russia through partners in the CIS,” he explains.

Kommersant’s source clarifies that Microsoft partners in the CIS buy unnamed licenses from the corporation and then resell them to Russian customers: “Both the first and second methods are quite working, but inconvenient for corporate consumers. Before Microsoft left, they centrally received software and updates for it from the company’s server, now it has to be done literally on one device. ” According to him, now “99% of private consumers” continue to use Windows, using either pirated copies, or taking advantage of the fact that license agreements concluded before the sanctions continue to operate.

Software from Microsoft in the infrastructure of private companies prevails over Russian software, Nikolai Komlev, executive director of the Association of Computer and Information Technology Enterprises (APKIT), confirms: “The transition to Russian operating systems or to foreign Linux distributions will occur with the renewal of the fleet. Until then, private companies will hold on to valid licenses.”

Kommersant’s interlocutor in a Russian office software developer also notes that Windows is still widely used by state-owned companies and departments, and the transition to Russian software is uneven: “On the infrastructure of some clients from among state-owned companies, we see 2% of Microsoft software, while others have up to 50%.

Timofey Kornev, Nikita Korolyov