I used to work at Tesonet (as software engineer) and I'm not familiar with corporate politics / ownerships but they're lovely people that would 100% walk out if there were some real Russian ties involved.
Lithuania is a really small country and IT has been a huge economic strategy since early 00s as a way to become economically independent specifically because of Russia and it worked out really well.
I have a good friend from Lithuania, who has told me so many amazing/wonderful/superlative things about the country he grew up in and loves very dearly, as well as its people. I can't wait to visit someday. Unfortunately, he only has Russian and American citizenship, so he can't purchase real estate there currently, but luckily most of Lithuania's restrictions have been very common-sense (applying only to people who frequently travel between Russia and Lithuania).
From what I can tell, Tesonet seems like a very patriotic group (as much as a corporation can be personified at all), and genuinely puts resources, both human and financial, towards raising up the local communities.
It's interesting to me that Tesonet has concentrated the most popular VPNs under one roof and is involved in so many companies that could be described as "dual-use" (white hat/black hat) such as residential/mobile proxies, ai-powered scraping, etc. It tells me that Tesonet has a very sharp understanding of gray-hat landscapes. It does seem like their portfolio could be leveraged as a valuable asset to any powerful interest, regardless if they are benevolent or malicious or misguided.
I mentioned Tesonet's stance towards Ukraine because Lithuania has a number of wealthy ex-soviet/Russian citizens and business-owners with differing politics, and wanted to clarify that for any readers who might wonder.
Additionally, I've always been very impressed with Estonia's digital infrastructure and Ukrainian software engineering - not just JetBrains but also other vendors that I've worked with personally. Seems like there are a lot of highly skilled people concentrated in your region.
I couldn't really get that segue from Lithuania to Estonia. Did you mean to type "Lithuania" in the last paragraph as well?
Here..
> Additionally, I've always been very impressed with Estonia's …
Before that you were talking about Lithuania exclusively.
And then:
> … Estonia's digital infrastructure and Ukrainian software engineering - not just JetBrains …
I think it was founded in CZ and is now HQed in NL. Right?
A typo? Or there's some relation between the two countries and whether JetBrains has some history with these two that is missing here?
(I am not trying to nitpick, really interested in knowing whether there's some angle/twist here, since the post itself is about hidden connections and what not).
> (I am not trying to nitpick, really interested in knowing whether there's some angle/twist here, since the post itself is about hidden connections and what not).
Honestly that shone through even from the first sentence.
I mentioned Estonia because Lithuania/Latvia/Estonia have a bit of shared identity, kind of similar to Sweden/Norway/Finland or USA/Canada.
> I think it was founded in CZ and is now HQed in NL. Right?
Yes I was just wrong. I was convinced it was Ukrainian for some reason.
I agree that the combination of those two points made my post particularly confusing.
JetBrains was russian (as in were most people initially actually worked). They were smart enough (like any business in russia not wanting to be trapped) to have registration outside of the country.
Some part of management were in CZ. Most of the technical team were in three buildings in St.Petersburg.
Wow. Didn’t know. As an Android developer I find it specially interesting. Not for any nefarious reasons, for I so far believe that JetBrains is one of those companies that has been a net positive on tech ecosystem in general (touchwood!) — be their dev tools or the Kotlin itself. I also follow these people and tools, partly out of professional needs/curiosities.
Aha. I see that it was also called "Kotling". I guess they missed this opportunity, or maybe KotLang, in which case people would have started calling it just Kot.
Also the place seems to have quite a few rebellions under its belt.
They're neighboring small countries with similar (centuries' long) histories of tension with Russia, in its various guises. They're often considered en bloc:
> most of Lithuania's restrictions have been very common-sense (applying only to people who frequently travel between Russia and Lithuania).
Common-sense like a complete ban for entering the country for red passport holders.
Lithuania is a wonderful, beautiful country and I understand the need to push the hardliner stance in the EU, but their decisions during the conflict have been strictly political, not in the slightest "common-sense".
You've just pissed off the entire eastern Europe and are still acting like you've any moral with this. It's the Russian state (and their elites) that's been an abuser to neighboring countries and they're still doing it. It has nothing to with race at all, Russians are slavic people as well. We don't really have a problem with them, beyond them supporting their government
> How are all Russians in Lithuania or Estonia responsible for the deeds of the Russian government? Or Russians in England?
It's not about Russian people, you assumed that. There are well known connections between any company doing business in or with Russia who are basically extorted to hand over all information about customers or financials to the government. This is no secret.
If any company is working from or with Russian ties, you can assume the government will have access to that data. Given the sensitive nature of VPN's, antivirus software, deployed software in general, its completely fair to say you don't want to work with people with ties in Russia. I'm the same. You're conflating things, and then throwing in some 'what-about-ism' for good measure. Nothing but an argument will come from this discussion so it's not welcome here. You could try your hand on Twitter.
> It's not about Russian people, you assumed that.
I assumed that because it's what has been said.
>> ... but they're lovely people that would 100% walk out if there were some real Russian ties involved.
> If any company is working from or with Russian ties, you can assume the government will have access to that data. Given the sensitive nature of VPN's, antivirus software, deployed software in general, its completely fair to say you don't want to work with people with ties in Russia.
Many major VPN companies have Israeli ties. Now, tell me, how is that better than having Russian ties? You trust Netanyahu's government more than Putin's?
> You're conflating things, and then throwing in some 'what-about-ism' for good measure.
No, I'm just exposing your hatred of Russians and your double standards.
> Nothing but an argument will come from this discussion so it's not welcome here.
Who are you to say that? You started with the racist remarks and got called out. If you don't want to discuss it anymore, you are free to stop, but I won't let your racism go unanswered.
> You could try your hand on Twitter.
Not sure about Twitter, but there are many platforms that would welcome your racism and your hatred. You would have a much better time somewhere else, so feel free to act upon your advice.
> No, I'm just exposing your hatred of Russians and your double standards
We're talking business connections here not personal friendships. Russian businesses and business people are not to be trusted as Kremlin retains full control over them and Kremlin is an enemy of Lithuania. It's basic safety and risk assestment to not integrate compromised systems and every russian system is compromised. Same applies to any other actor but guess what, no other actor is threatening invasion of Lithuania so the math adds up here, no?
Lithuania is a really small country and IT has been a huge economic strategy since early 00s as a way to become economically independent specifically because of Russia and it worked out really well.