WPS Office
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WPS Office, formerly known as simply WPS (Word Processing System), is an office suite developed by Kingsoft (China) as an alternative to Microsoft Office aimed at the Chinese market.
The user interface bears resemblance to the Microsoft Office products, and the suite reads and writes the files generated by Office just like its native documents. The personal edition is free for download.
Contents |
[edit] Early dominance
WPS started as a word processor under DOS. WPS maintained an enormous user base through out the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, high level of piracy in China at that time ensured that enormous user base did not translate into enormous profit.
[edit] Losing grounds to MS Office
When Office 95 and Windows 95 were introduced into the Chinese market, the influence and sales of WPS went into steep decline. Faced with stiff foreign competition and high level of domestic piracy, Kingsoft was nearly bankrupt by the end of 1995. Kingsoft chief software architect Qiu Bo Jun, in a heroic attempt to revive the company, injected 4 million Yuan (apprx US$500,000 in 2003) into the company by selling his private mansion, and began the development of WPS 97 for Microsoft Windows. When WPS 97 was released in 1997, it struggled to compete with MS Office 97. There were many reasons for that:
- MS Office 97 was in widespread use and users were reluctant to switch
- MS Office 97 offers more features than WPS 97
- WPS was still just a word processor with no spreadsheet or presentation application
In May 2001, Kingsoft launched WPS Office, which included a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software. Again it struggled to compete with the more powerful MS Office 2000.
[edit] Revival
In 2002, WPS Office 2002 surfaced as the next version of WPS Office and added to its bundle an email client. In a move hailed by many, WPS Office 2002 cloned MS Office's user interface to the very last detail and as a result dramatically reduced the amount of retraining required to migrate from MS Office. However, critics labeled the strategic move as "the death of software innovation".
When the PRC joined the WTO, the Chinese look to rid their state-owned computers of pirated software. Kingsoft won big contracts and licensed, to many local Chinese governments including Beijing and Guangdong, thousands of copies of WPS Office. Shanghai, however, was unmoved by the low cost of WPS Office and still opted for the more expensive MS Office.
[edit] WPS Office Storm
The 2004 incarnation of the office suite, WPS Office Storm, was released in late 2004 to limited fanfare. In its increased effort to converge with MS Office, WPS Office Storm claims to offer perfect compatibility with the MS Office document formats. In a bid to differentiate itself from other office suites, Kingsoft collaborated with Intel and IBM to integrate their text-to-text and text-to-speech technology into WPS Office Storm. Its new technical capabilities became the focal point an advertising campaign. A Linux version of WPS Office Storm is also available. Document formats are identical in Linux and Windows.
WPS Office Storm indeed supports 126 languages, but it is not clear why Kingsoft doesn't provide webpages in English.
[edit] WPS Office 2005 Personal Edition
In late 2005, WPS personal edition has been released as a free download, in hope of introducing the product to more users. This version is only offered in Simplified Chinese, and can only be used by home users. Kingsoft is constantly updating this personal edition which indicates the company may intend to support and improve the free version as a long term commitment.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official homepage (in simplified Chinese)
- Linux Version Screenshots (in simplified Chinese)
- Features of Advanced Version (in simplified Chinese)
