UNDP’s ICTP project published the research paper on “Prospective Use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Development of Uzbekistan”. The research paper, which is the first document of such kind in Uzbekistan devoted to FOSS movement, aims to draw attention of the government of Uzbekistan, representatives of educational establishments and business sector to technological solutions offered by FOSS, to explain the advantages of FOSS implementation and possible risks, to indicate conditions for realization of successful open source initiatives.

As Uzbekistan has joined Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and after signing of the Memorandum of Software Producers of Uzbekistan, in the nearest future country will face the issue of reliable protection of the rights of software copyright holders, seek ways to combat computer piracy, and consequently, payments for high license costs for utilizing closed commercial software. Hence, the introduction of FOSS can offer original solutions to the problems that cannot be resolved by using the commercial software, and can finally lead to significant savings in government’s IT expenses.

The research paper includes the study of the most important aspects of FOSS technology, examines the best international practices and most successful open source projects, covers the statistical information on currently used software in the government’s IT environment, embraces the corresponding analysis of usage of commercial software and FOSS in Uzbekistan, provides recommendations and suggests approximate Action Plan of FOSS implementation taking into account short-term and long-term perspectives. The current research can help Uzbekistan to develop the specific steps required to work-out legal, political and technical norms and standards aimed at strengthening the FOSS implementation in Uzbekistan. FOSS Paper UzbThe research paper is available in both Russian and Uzbek languages.

The online version of the research is available on ICTP project website at:

Russian version: download

Uzbek version: download