Kingsoft Office 2012 |
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| Developer(s) | Kingsoft |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1988 |
| Stable release | Kingsoft Office 2012 |
| Written in | CodeGear Delphi |
| Platform | Microsoft Windows, Linux |
| Available in | English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese |
| Type | Office suite |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Kingsoft |
Kingsoft Office, commonly known as KSO or KSOffice, developed by Zhuhai-based Chinese software developer Kingsoft, is an office suite for Microsoft Windows and Android OS.[1] KSOffice include Kingsoft Writer, Kingsoft Presentation and Kingsoft Spreadsheet.[2]
Kingsoft Office Suite Free is a trial version for free personal use for a period of 365 days.[3] A charged Pro version is also available. The current version is Kingsoft Office 2012.[2]
The product has had a long history of development in China, where it is still sold as WPS Office. "Kingsoft Office" is the company's attempt to crack, primarily, the Western and Japanese markets. Since Kingsoft Office 2005, the user interface bears resemblance to the Microsoft Office products, and the suite reads and writes the files generated by Office in addition to its native documents.
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The Chinese version is marketed as WPS Office named after the early Kingsoft word processor WPS (Word Processing System). WPS is also used as a promotional acronym for "Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheets" which are the components of Kingsoft Office. WPS started as a word processor under DOS in 1988. WPS maintained an enormous user base throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.
When Microsoft 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 Pak Kwan Kau (求伯君), in an attempt to revive the company, injected 4 million Yuan (approx. US$500,000 in 2003) into the company by selling off his private assets, and began the development of WPS 97 for Microsoft Windows. When WPS 97 was released in 1997, it struggled to compete with Microsoft Office 97. There were number of reasons for that:
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 Microsoft Office 2000.
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 Microsoft Office's user interface to the very last detail and as a result dramatically reduced the amount of retraining required to migrate from Microsoft Office. However, critics labeled the strategic move as "the death of software innovation".
When China joined the WTO, the Chinese government looked to rid piracy within the government offices. In 2003, the Chinese government made KingSoft office the standard for various government branches.[4]
Kingsoft won big contracts and licensed thousands of copies of WPS Office to many local Chinese governments including the governments of Beijing and Guangdong. However, Shanghai was unmoved by the low cost of WPS Office and still opted for the more expensive Microsoft Office.
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 Microsoft Office, WPS Office Storm claims to offer perfect compatibility with the Microsoft 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 in an advertising campaign.
There are two versions of WPS for Linux, WPS Office Storm (cloned from OpenOffice.org) and WPS 2005.
In late 2005, WPS Office Personal Edition was released as a free download, in hope of introducing the product to more users. This edition 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.
In 2007, another edition was released, Kingsoft Office 2007, which is available in Chinese, English, and Japanese interface. The personal edition is available for 30-day trial (with the license key available for free by request), the next version will be available in 100-day trial and free version.
In 2009, Kingsoft Office 2009 was released which has increased compatibility with Microsoft Office including support for the 2007 version file formats.Kingsoft Office 2010 was released in 2010.
In 2011, Kingsoft Office granted funding from the Chinese government [5] and received further orders from central ministries in China.[6]
Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012 was released in 2011, which is a trial version for a period of 365 days.[3] A charged 2012 Pro version will also be available.