Office software made in China accounts for 60 percent of the local governments' 2004 software purchases, showing the rapid development of the country's software industry.

Sources from the Ministry of Information Industry at the Ninth China International Software Exposition released the statistics Tuesday.

In the niche market for governmental institutions, China-made operation systems accounted for more than 25 percent of the total operation systems the local governments purchased and anti-virus software took up 97 percent of the total, said a press release of the ministry in Beijing. As domestic anti-virus software is less expensive than foreign products, but still functions well. Chinese brands such as Kingsoft and Rising have absolute advantages compared with foreign products.

In terms of operating systems, Chinese companies have cooperated with companies in Japan and the Republic of Korea. Currently, domestic operating systems are mainly used in the sectors of e-governance and finance.

Source: Xinhua