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China dictates purchase of local software
美国ZDNET：中国大力支持国产软件
A new policy by China's governing body, the State Council, will rule that all ministries have to buy only locally-produced software at the next upgrade cycle.
Staff, CNETAsia
CNETAsia
August 18, 2003, 09:30 BST
A new policy by China's governing body, the State Council, will rule that all ministries have to buy only locally-produced software at the next upgrade cycle.
The move, aimed at breaking the dominance of US-based Microsoft on desktop computers, will eliminate Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office productivity suite from hundreds of thousands of Chinese government computers in a few years' time.
Gao Zhigang, an official with the Procurement Centre of the State Council, told reporters that the new policy will be in place by year-end.
At a special congress held to encourage ministries to upgrade to WPS Office 2003, a China-made office productivity suite, Gao said that only hardware pre-installed with domestic operating systems and application software will be purchased by government. Those seeking exceptions will need to submit a special request.
The new policy is expected to increase the number of government officials using domestic-made office software from a third to 100 percent eventually. Gao said that the new policy is meant to support the local software industry and protect state information security.
The new policy will continue till at least until 2010. These protections are standard and are not meant to discriminate against other countries, said the Council. China is a member of the World Trade Organisation and it is unclear if the new bans contravene the body's charters.
"The domestic software industry is very insulated. There is poor interaction and partnership with user companies. The increased use of domestic software will make the China software industry more open," said Fei Lin, an official with the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. [未结束]
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