Top PC Makers Add XP

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 07, 2001

Top PC Makers Add XP

China's top four personal computer (PC) makers - Legend, TCL, Tongfang, and Great Wall - announced Thursday that they will begin pre-installing the newly launched Microsoft Windows XP on their complete range of home PCs.

With the four vendors representing a combined 60 per cent of the country's home PC market, Windows XP is expected to become the standard operating system for China's home PC users.

"China has become one of the most significant markets in the world, and entering it has become a key strategy for many international information technology (IT) vendors," said Kevin Hou, deputy general manager of Microsoft China Co.

China's PC market, the world's third largest, is growing rapidly.

The move indicates China's local IT players are poised to take actions to stop computer software piracy now rampant in the country.

"The pre-installation of original software by so many well-known IT companies demonstrates the Chinese IT industry's commitment to, and respect of, the protection of intellectual property rights," said Alexander Huang, another official of Microsoft China.

The four vendors have jointly introduced "the certificate of authenticity" (COA) which is a label on PCs pre-installed with genuine legal software.

The introduction of the COA label is expected to have an impact on the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) machine market and help minimize hard disk loading of pirated software products.

Software firms lost US$1.1 billion to piracy last year in China, according to the Business Software Alliance, which comprises software and e-commerce member firms in 65 countries and regions. The alliance also sends a strong signal that China's domestic PC manufacturers are ready to compete with international counterparts on the same playing field.

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