Evermore Integrated Office (EIOffice) 2004, the latest edition of a China-made office software, goes on the global market Monday with its release in China, Japan,and the United States, the developer Evermore Software announced in Beijing.

EIOffice 2004 inherits the progress made in speed, compatibility, visual effects, and other functions since the previous edition and greatly strengthens the function of its science editor by providing over 2,000 commonly-used symbols of maths, physics, and chemistry, company sources said.

The new edition also makes improvements in its document processing system according to the needs of e-government and e-business.

EIOffice 2004 provides free downloads for trial use for Japanese and US users starting May 17 on its website, http://www.evermoresw.com .

Experts said that the software's release in three languages fully demonstrates China's technological strengths and confidence in its office software development and indicates that China is marching into the global market in this sector.

EIOffice, or Yongzhong Office in Chinese, was developed by Evermore Software, an IT company based in Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Founded in 2000 as a joint venture between a local government-controlled company and a returned Chinese who had received education overseas, Evermore put all its 200 software engineers into the development of the company's only product, EIOffice, thus becoming China's largest developer of office software.

Under the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), Evermore completed its product in late 2001.

It was approved as "a large integrated office software with self-owned intellectual property, and all its overall technological indices have reached the international advanced level in the field" by a joint assessment panel of the MII, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Jiangsu provincial government.

Since Evermore introduced its EIOffice 2003 in September last year, the company has signed over 200 million contracts with users both at home and abroad.