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Kingsoft set to unseat Microsoft
英国金融时报：金山力撼微软
By Mure Dickie in Beijing
Financial Times; Aug 21, 2003
Kingsoft, one of China's biggest software companies, is closeto sealing a contract that will result in its flagship product replacing Microsoft's Office on hundreds of thousands of computers in schools in Shanghai.
Under the deal, which is likely to be signed early next month, Kingsoft will supply its WPS Office 2003 suite of software for use in computer training classes in more than 2,000 Shanghai primary and secondary schools, along with teaching and examination materials.
The contract offers an unprecedented opportunity for Kingsoft to build a user base for its products among pupils in China's most important commercial city.
"To have domestically produced software being used to teach children . . . is really a breakthrough in its popularisation," said a person involved in the deal.
It will also fuel hopes among local software companies that government support and low prices will help reduce Microsoft's dominance over the Chinese market for operating systems and applications.
Beijing is drafting regulations intended to ensure government departments favour domestically produced software, although officials have yet to clarify how strict such rules are likely to be or when they will be implemented.
Microsoft's operating system and Office suite are the de facto standard in China, although few copies are actually paid for.
However, state institutions such as the post office and some municipal governments are already supporting the local industry by choosing local companies in major software procurement.
For Kingsoft, which has long pitched itself as the patriotic alternative to Microsoft, the Shanghai schools contract could offer a significant revenue boost.
While the price charged to the city education authorities will be considerably below the WPS 2003 list price of Rmb1,298 ($157), Kingsoft is expected to supply, on average, 100 copies to each school.
Microsoft declined to comment on the deal, but one industry observer said the likely loss of its pre-eminence in the Shanghai education market had been prompted by efforts by the US company to act against alleged piracy of its products by some schools.
While Microsoft licensed its Windows and Office products to Shanghai schools, it later complained usage far exceeded that permitted under the licensing agreement and sought increased licence payments, the observer said.
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