Does homemade software grow up in the "greenhouse"?

Background of news: The procurement of software by the Beijing Municipal Government in 2004 is full of ups and downs.

Beijing Informational Office released the Announcement of Governmental Procurement Transaction on Software including Computer Operational Systems, Office Software and Information Security on November 17, in which the software giant Microsoft won the tender with a big order worthy of 29.25 million yuan (US$3.52 million), while the homemade software producers ended in a complete failure. For a second, there were instant public outcry and general concern. Even some people blamed some provinces and cities of the large-scale procurement of imported software and they believed that violated the Government Procurement Law.

In light of this situation, the Procurement Office of Beijing Municipal Government changed its purchase list on November 27, as a result of which Microsoft was excluded. And on December 2., several domestic software makers won deals from the government as they had expected.

The incident sparked continuous discussions and disputes though it was supposed to come to a temporary end. Whether the homemade software is not at all competitive when compared with those imported? Whether the homemade software has to grow up under the protection from "greenhouse"? How could China vitalize its national software industry? Recently, Ni Guangnan, an academician with Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Beijing Software Industry Association, and Lei Jun, president of Kingsoft Co Ltd, told People's Daily Online, and talked about the issues of common concern.

Functions: Whether the homemade software can meet the demands of governmental office work?

Ni Guangnan: The research and development fund for Chinese software makers only accounted for 1 per cent of that of Microsoft, but the homemade software has all basic functions as those developed by Microsoft, and some are even better than Microsoft's. Particularly, compared with three years ago, Chinese office software has been more mature. However, people have long been holding a wrong idea with prejudice against homemade software. Actually, the homemade software is no longer "the flowers in the greenhouse".

Hua Pinglan: Many users are accustomed to the use of imported software such as those made by Microsoft. This habit is a terrible tendency. In recent years, Beijing Municipal Government has paid special attention to the development of homemade software In order to accelerate the application of homemade software. Beijing has begun to make experiments in some key sectors two year ago. Having been gradually improved, a complete set of software (office software included) has met the standards of governmental demand with relatively higher compatibility with those made by Microsoft. Therefore, I personally believe that the homemade office software can fully meet the application demands for governmental institutions. In terms of operational system, the application of LINUX has accounted for one-third share in server. Although there are still gaps in the application of LINUX desktop system, it will be definitely improved in the near future as long as users and research institutes make joint efforts to narrow the gaps.

Lei Jun: The early spread of piracies made Microsoft software very popular in China. Now there are still many people regarding the principle of Microsoft as standard to judge homemade software. As a matter of fact, China's current software technology can safely meet the demands of e-governmental office work. I believe that the users must fully understand the demands and standards of application when introducing foreign software. Governments in Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) use local software widely. As a result, Japanese and Korean software enterprises have better technologies with a fairly large market share.

Interests controversy: Whether the application of imported software will have an impact on the development of China's software industry?

In this storm of governmental procurement there are two viewpoints, which are quite distinct from each other. One group believed that the excessive use of imported software would seriously undermine the development of China's software industry; while the other group held that the over-stress on the purchase of homemade software was also a kind of commercial nationalism, so China could protect its "own children", since government was also a client.

Ni Guangnan: The software industry plays a very important role in the contemporary era, and is of vital importance to the country's information security. China has taken the development of software industry as a strategic industry since 2000. The development of China's software industry will accelerate China's advancement. On the contrary, the development of China's software industry will be hindered.

The software industry is like those natural monopolistic industries: the bigger, the bigger; the smaller, the smaller. Actually, the monopoly has been formed in those aspects such as operational systems and office software in particular. Under the circumstance that China does not have an anti-monopoly law, we could not prevent monopoly from intensifying like the EU and Japan do. So there is only one-way out: for the government to take the lead in breaking the monopoly. In this sense it is significant for the government to do so. However, from the international point of view, every country is making great effort in gaining a market share for its own enterprises. So the support for domestic enterprises is in line with national interests.

Hua Pinglan: Software is a key issue in China's information development of strategy. The advancement of information strategy will bring along the development of other industries in China. "Industrialization gives an impetus to informationalization", one of its connotations should be industrialization will bring along the development of China's national information industry. In the field of information industry, China has become a giant manufacturing country, but we still have not taken the initiative in some key technologies such as operational system and database management, which is of key strategic importance. So far, China has still not signed the Government Procurement Agreement yet. So China's Government Procurement Law regulates that the purchase of domestic products is an international practice.

Lei Jun: The office software purchase will be valued at more than 10 billion US dollars with net profits of more than 8 billion US dollars annually. If we do not give domestic enterprises support to compete with overseas enterprises, consumers have to suffer the high cost brought by monopoly.

Policy controversy: Whether the governmental support is the only way en routes the development of homemade software?

Ni Guangnan: Facts prove that the governmental support is vital to the development of domestic software. Three years ago, Beijing took lead in using homemade software. However, the three-year order sheets were merely several million. But, the homemade software, especially the office software and operational system have been stimulated quickly. I believe that we should devote major effort to changing the current situation of software education and training. Now all the colleges and universities are teaching Windows, which put pressure on the popularization of LINUX.

Hua Lanping: The development of homemade software has to break two bottlenecks. One should be the change of users' habit resulted in the long-time monopoly by Microsoft. Once Microsoft software is on the market, thousands of users will make suggestions, point out problems and help them corrected their mistakes. But we do not have that opportunity. The users will have the final say in the development of software. If users do not have time to test or use the software, they cannot have opportunity to give suggestions and help developers improve software. Consequently, government should make a thorough plan in organizing and helping domestic software producer improve and raise the quality of software. Meanwhile, the software producers also need to perfect their own products to meet users' special demands.

The other should be the government's support to those enterprises, which have invested much in the development of new operation system or office software so as to make some profits. If government does not lend a hand to homemade software, the future of domestic software will be dim. The protection of intellectual property right is also of vital importance in developing homemade software, on which the further development of software and the public support for software upgrade largely depend. The law and regulations in intellectual property rights has already met the international standard. The key step to be taken is the implementation of such law and regulations.

Lei Jun: Domestic software producers placed great hope on government's stipulation of an anti-monopoly law. We are expecting equal, reasonable and legal competition. With the anti-monopoly law, the competition between domestic software enterprises and international software giants is just like an egg striking a rock.

Farewell to greenhouse

It is an undeniable fact that although Beijing Municipal Government chose homemade software in this governmental procurement bid, it does not mean homemade software is better than that of its foreign counterpart. Actually, as many experts and users put, there are still huge gaps between homemade software and foreign excellent software in terms of functions and services.

For the time being, the development of homemade software cannot go without governmental support. Many experts and scholars have raised many suggestions in this regard. But in the long run, the top priority for the future development of domestic software industry should be the improvement of its function with better services and higher competitiveness. Anyway, with China's entry into the World Trade Organization and the tendency of economic globalization, homemade software will bid farewell to the protection of greenhouse, and compete with international strong opponents in the same stage.

Time waits for no man. The realization of the dream that China's software industry advancing to the world calls for the down to earth altitude and the spirit of hard struggle. Meanwhile, we are expected to have measures from the high level departments to perfect the personnel training mechanism, protect intellectual rights, stimulate talents and provide qualified personnel with high quality products.

By People's Daily Online