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>is there really any compelling reason not to choose Kotlin over Java? Kotlin is being developed primarily by developers based in Russia. Putin relies on geopo

>is there really any compelling reason not to choose Kotlin over Java? Kotlin is being developed primarily by developers based in Russia. Putin relies on geopolitical conflict for consent manufacturing within the country. One of his future antics could turn into a real crisis, where Russia ends up sanctioned and isolated as a result, after a series of tit-for-tat moves, with the corresponding disruption to normal business processes. Being a Russian product it also carries a risk of one day receiving an update with a payload from Russian secret services, if they find your firm sufficiently interesting. But it's a general consideration with software/hardware from "adversary" countries like China or Russia. The story with Huawei is the same.

pyuser583 7y ago
What!? It’s being developed by JetBrains, which is headquartered in the Czech Republic - a NATO member!
- nullifidian 7y ago
  It's registered/incorporated in the Czech Republic, but it's a Russian company. Same way Russian search giant Yandex is incorporated in Netherlands.
  - Gaelan 7y ago
    In more concrete terms, of their ~1000 employees, 600 are in St. Petersburg, their largest office by far.
    - pyuser583 7y ago
      Ah. That makes things clear.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 7y ago
  Kotlin is named after an island protecting the entry to St. Petersburg. While they have some developers in Germany and Czech Republic (plus some remote IIRC), their main development center is in St. Petersburg. I guess they were incorporated in Czech republic due to political issues, but they would still be crippled if they were somehow cut off from their St. Petersburg office.
ivankolev 7y ago
I have always wondered about that myself. I guess I implicitly trust all the large orgs already using their products to do their due diligence, but if it is a targeted attack there is nothing much you could do.
iLemming 7y ago
Being born in the USSR and having to watch the collapse of the Union and later Putin's rise to power with my own eyes, I can honestly say - this comment is not without sense and everyone should think twice before introducing Kotlin in their company.
Bendingo 7y ago
Would be great to have a tech thread that didn't degenerate into low-grade political opinion.
thu2111 7y ago
The JVM itself has a lot of Russian developers, and IntelliJ is the most popular Java IDE with about 60%+ market share, also developed by JetBrains. Their tools are also widely used in other markets. But you know, the most aggressive country by far at backdooring systems is the USA. For the vast majority of us who are neither American nor Russian it's all swings and roundabouts.

pyuser583 7y ago

What!? It’s being developed by JetBrains, which is headquartered in the Czech Republic - a NATO member!

nullifidian 7y ago
It's registered/incorporated in the Czech Republic, but it's a Russian company. Same way Russian search giant Yandex is incorporated in Netherlands.
- Gaelan 7y ago
  In more concrete terms, of their ~1000 employees, 600 are in St. Petersburg, their largest office by far.
  - pyuser583 7y ago
    Ah. That makes things clear.
isbvhodnvemrwvn 7y ago
Kotlin is named after an island protecting the entry to St. Petersburg. While they have some developers in Germany and Czech Republic (plus some remote IIRC), their main development center is in St. Petersburg. I guess they were incorporated in Czech republic due to political issues, but they would still be crippled if they were somehow cut off from their St. Petersburg office.

ivankolev 7y ago

I have always wondered about that myself. I guess I implicitly trust all the large orgs already using their products to do their due diligence, but if it is a targeted attack there is nothing much you could do.

iLemming 7y ago

Being born in the USSR and having to watch the collapse of the Union and later Putin's rise to power with my own eyes, I can honestly say - this comment is not without sense and everyone should think twice before introducing Kotlin in their company.

Bendingo 7y ago

Would be great to have a tech thread that didn't degenerate into low-grade political opinion.

thu2111 7y ago

The JVM itself has a lot of Russian developers, and IntelliJ is the most popular Java IDE with about 60%+ market share, also developed by JetBrains. Their tools are also widely used in other markets. But you know, the most aggressive country by far at backdooring systems is the USA. For the vast majority of us who are neither American nor Russian it's all swings and roundabouts.