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New Office Software Issued
Microsoft officially launched the Chinese version of its much-touted Office XP Tuesday in Beijing amid expectations of rewards from the huge marketplace and worries about potential piracy.
After the jumpy graphics and pumping music stopped at Tuesday's press release, a massive gathering of more than 2,000 attendants returned to the speakers on stage to watch an array of demos and listen to an explanation of the new XP features.
The product rolls in high-tech features like custom smart tags (a new office feature which lets you quickly manage content) and Chinese handwriting and speech recognition, targeted at Chinese users who are unable to use the keyboard for medical reasons.
Web integration is another common theme running throughout Office XP. Microsoft's assumption that the Internet is an everyday presence in the lives of professionals is clearly visible in the Web-based additions found in every application included in the suite.
Many attendants were excited to learn that the new product, the first version of the Microsoft application suite to incorporate voice-recognition technology, is able to solve the input problems of the most complicated Chinese characters.
As an upgrade, Office XP, which stands for "experience,'' introduces fewer problems than Office 2000, and corporations that stayed with Office 97 may be attracted by this highly compatible upgrade, said Dr Jack Gao, general manager of Microsoft China.
"Microsoft Office XP offers a higher level of reliability, data recovery and security, while making it simpler for users to access information on the Web, in their organization, or on their computer,'' he said.
Microsoft has more than 250 million registered users. In China, it has more than 10 million business users. More than 90 per cent of the users choose the product as their office software solutions.
Through partnering with local information product manufacturers and distributors, Office XP would be sold with authorized franchises from the company to ward off potential piracy, Gao said.
Source: China Daily
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