WPS Office (an acronym for Writer, Presentation and Spreadsheets,^[2] previously known as Kingsoft Office) is an office suite for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux,^[1]iOS^[3] and Android,^[4] developed by Zhuhai-based Chinese software developer Kingsoft. WPS Office is made up of three primary components: WPS Writer, WPS Presentation, and WPS Spreadsheet.^[5]

Kingsoft, which operates newly banned app WPS Office, said in a statement that it did not expect Trump’s order to substantially impact the company’s business in the short term. WPS Office is a powerful office suite developed by China-based Kingsoft. Microsoft Office is a good alternative for the app and gives users access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. How to Change WPS Office App Language in Android Device 2019 In Android Device How to Change WPS Office App Language How to Change Language of WPS office in.

The personal basic version is free to use. A fully featured professional-grade version is also available for a subscription fee. WPS Office 2016 was released in 2016.^[6] As of 2019, the Linux version is developed and supported by a volunteer community rather than Kingsoft itself.^[7]

By 2019, WPS Office reached a number of more than 310 million monthly active users.^[8]

The product has had a long history of development in China under the name 'WPS' and 'WPS Office'. For a time, Kingsoft branded the suite as 'KSOffice' in an attempt to gain an international market foothold, but later returned to 'WPS Office'. Since WPS Office 2005 the user interface is similar to that of Microsoft Office products, and supports Microsoft document formats besides native Kingsoft formats.

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

WPS Office was initially known as Super-WPS文字处理系统 (Super-WPS Word Processing System, then known simply as WPS) in 1988 as a word processor that ran on DOS systems and sold by then-Hong KongKingsun COMPUTER CO. LTD. It was the first Chinese-language word processor designed and developed for the mainland Chinese market^{[citation needed]}. WPS was used from the late 1980s.

Early history[edit]

Faced with competition from Microsoft Office, Kingsoft chief software architect Pak Kwan Kau (求伯君) diverted 4 million Renminbi from his personal account to assist in the development of WPS 97 for Microsoft Windows. In 1997, WPS 97 was released. The next version, WPS 2000, was released two years later. Both products were developed for a 16-bit Windows platform, with the capability of running on 32-bit Windows platforms.

In May 2001, Kingsoft launched a full office suite under the name WPS Office 2001, which contained a word processor together with spreadsheet and presentation applications. With WPS Office 2001, Kingsoft entered the office productivity market in the People's Republic of China.

In 2002, WPS Office 2002 was released, adding an email client to the office suite. WPS Office 2002 aimed to maintain interface compatibility with established office products.

In 2003, WPS Office 2003 was released. The Chinese government made Kingsoft office software the standard for various divisions of the government.

The 2004 incarnation of the office suite, dubbed WPS Office Storm, was released in late 2004. It claimed to offer total backward compatibility with Microsoft Office file formats. Unlike previous versions, WPS Storm was based on OpenOffice.org and was the first WPS Office suite to support operating systems other than Microsoft Windows. Kingsoft collaborated with Intel and IBM to integrate its text-to-text and text-to-speech technology into WPS Office Storm.

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In late 2005, WPS Office 2005 was released with a revamped interface and a smaller file size. Besides the Professional edition, a free Simplified Chinese edition was offered for students and home users. A Wine-hosted edition was provided for Linux users of WPS Office Storm.

In 2007, Kingsoft Office 2007 was released. This was the first version that tried to enter international markets, with support for the English and Japanese languages. The native Chinese-language version continued under the name WPS Office.

In 2009, Kingsoft Office 2009 was released. It had increased compatibility with Microsoft Office including support for the newer 2007-version file formats.

In 2010, Kingsoft Office 2010 was released.

In 2011, Kingsoft Office was granted funding from the Chinese government^[9] and received further orders from central ministries in China.^[10]

Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012 was released in 2011. Kingsoft Office Professional 2012 and Kingsoft Office Standard 2012 were released for sale in February 2012,^[11] in addition to Kingsoft Office for Android.^[12] The initial release for Android included standard word processor functions such as creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

On 28 March 2012 Kingsoft announced that WPS for Linux was under development. It is the third WPS Linux product, following WPS Storm and WPS 2005. It was developed from scratch, based on the Qt framework, as compatible as possible with its Windows counterpart.

The free and paid versions of Kingsoft Office 2013 were released on 4 June 2013. They consist of three programs: Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentation, which are similar to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.^[13] WPS Office for Linux Alpha 18 Patch 1 was released on 11 June 2015.^[1]

2014-present[edit]

On June 6, 2014, all Kingsoft Office products were renamed WPS Office.^[14]

On December 16, 2014, WPS Office 2014 for Windows, build 9.1.0.4932, was released as a subscription model for a monthly charge of US$3 for some features. The free version provided basic features and supported Microsoft Office .doc, .xls, and .ppt file formats. Premium paid versions provided full compatibility for Microsoft Office files. Officially only the paid 2014 version supported saving files in .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx formats, but, actually, the free version also supported these formats (as had the 2013 free version).^[15]

On June 21, 2016, WPS Office 2016 for Windows became generally available as Freemium software, with no subscription needed for basic features.^[16]

On 28 May 2017 Kingsoft tweeted that the Linux version was at a halt,^[17] but denied this a few days later, removed the tweet, and issued a further alpha version. Kingsoft also tweeted making reference to making WPS Office for Linux open-source towards the end of 2017 to allow the Linux community to step in and continue maintaining it, but later deleted this tweet too.^[18]

WPS Office 2019 was released on May 6, 2019. It introduced new integration and personalized features as well as full support for the PDF format.

Editions[edit]

WPS Office has versions for multiple operating systems. It has editions for:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux (Fedora, CentOS, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, Mint, Knoppix) — Originally supports both 32- and 64-bit systems, however support for 32-bit systems stopped as of July 2019.^[19]
• Android
• iOS

In addition to the above, WPS Office also has a web version.

Versions and subscription model[edit]

WPS Office 2016 is available in Free, Premium, and Professional versions, along with versions for Android and iOS. The free version provides basic features and supports Microsoft Office file formats. Some features, such as printing and mail-merge, can be temporarily accessed only after viewing an advertisement, which WPS Office refers to as sponsored access.^[20]

The subscription-based, paid version, called WPS Office 2016 Premium, is available for US$9.99 per 3 months, and makes all features available without viewing advertisements.^[21]

A lifetime license for WPS Office 2016 Professional can be purchased for $79.99.^[21]

File format[edit]

According to an April 2017 review of WPS Office 2016 Free v10.2.0.5871 for Windows, the program opens and saves all Microsoft Office document formats (doc, docx, xls, xlsx, etc.), HTML, RTF, XML, and PDF.^[22]

• Text document formats: wps, wpt, doc, dot, docx, dotx, docm, dotm
• XML document formats: xml, htm, html, mht, mhtm, mhtml
• Spreadsheet document formats: et, ett, xls, xlsx, xlt, xltx, csv, xlsm, xltm, xlsb, ets
• Slideshow document formats: ppt, pot, pps, dps, dpt, pptx, potx, ppsx, pptm, potm, ppsm, dpss

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

1. ^ ^abcCurrently in Alpha state. See 'WPS for Linux A15 is Released'. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
2. ^'What is WPS Office and. wps File Format - Kingsoft Office'. Ksosoft.com. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
3. ^'Kingsoft Office for iOS to hit iPhones and iPads'. Kingsoftstor.com. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
4. ^'Download Kingsoft free office app for Android'. Kingsoftstore.com. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
5. ^'WPS Office Home Page'. wps.com.
6. ^'WPS Office Officially Releases WPS 2016 for Windows'. wps.com.
7. ^'WPS Office for Linux Update Available to Download - OMG! Ubuntu!'. OMG! Ubuntu!. 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
8. ^https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190910005579/en/Kingsoft-Office-Launches-WPS-Office-2020-UK
9. ^'WPS Office Software: free office software, professional office software'. wps.com. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
10. ^'Kingsoft WPS Office Receives Further Orders from Central Ministries'. Free Online Library. Kingsoft Office Software Corporation Limited. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
11. ^https://archive.is/20130128080506/http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kingsoft-corporation-released-three-editions-of-kingsoft-office-2012-2012-02-27
12. ^'Kingsoft Office + PDF - FREE!'. Google Play. Kingsoft Office Software Corporation Limited. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
13. ^'Kingsoft Office 2013 has been released'. Kingsoft Office. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
14. ^'Kingsoft Office Change Name to WPS Office'. Kingsoft Office. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
15. ^'WPS Office for Windows'. WPS Office. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
16. ^'WPS Office Implements Freemium Version of Software'. wps.com. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
17. ^Joey Sneddon (28 May 2017). 'Linux Users Shouldn't Expect Further Updates to WPS Office…'. OMG! Ubuntu!. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
18. ^Joey Sneddon (31 May 2017). 'Kingsoft Say WPS Office for Linux Will Continue To Be Updated After all'. OMG! Ubuntu!. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
19. ^'Downloads - WPS Office Community'. wps-community.org. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
20. ^'Why you should take another look at WPS Office Free'. CNet. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
21. ^ ^ab'Compare WPS Office'. WPS Office. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
22. ^Mike Williams (15 June 2017). 'WPS Office 2016 Free v10.2.0.5871'. Techworld.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.

External links[edit]

I’m Jordan Schneider, Beijing-based host of the ChinaEconTalk Podcast. In this newsletter, I translate and analyze articles from Chinese media about tech, business, and political economy.

I’m opting for a tipping model to support this newsletter which you can sign up for on Substack or Patreon. The money will go toward compensating ChinaEconTalk contributors who represent the next generation of China analysts.

This week’s podcast with Weijian Shan, chairman and founder of PAG Group, was special. Growing up in the Cultural Revolution, he was sent from Beijing to the Gobi desert where he spent six years planting potatoes. He was one of the first Chinese nationals to move to the US for school, ultimately studying with Janet Yellen and working as a professor at Wharton before moving back to Asia to work in private equity. Shan reflected on the Cultural Revolution and its legacy, US-China relations, and the Hong Kong protests.

Wps Chinese Version

My following column on Microsoft vs Kingsoft first appeared in Technode.

In late November, 30 years after its founding, Kingsoft’s software business hit the Shanghai STAR market (a NASDAQ spinoff). It raised $640 million and currently trades at a $10 billion valuation. Westerners—and even many Chinese familiar with its products—regard it as simply another knockoff Chinese firm whose WPS Office is little more than an off-brand Microsoft Office suite.

But an anonymous Chinese blogger tells us why Kingsoft’s story matters. Sister Dan Dan writes in an article on “The hidden history of WPS’s years on the market,” that Kingsoft: “because of WPS, they forced Microsoft to really fight not only for China but also the global market of office products.” Kingsoft’s early missteps in its fight with Microsoft are one of the great what-ifs in Chinese tech history, and its rebound is nothing short of remarkable.

“There is a company that fully deserves to be known as the Whampoa Military Academy of the Chinese programmer,” she writes, referring to the legendary academy that trained the first commanders of the Red Army.

WPS’ origin is the stuff of legend. In 1988, Qiu Bojun spent over a year in seclusion, writing 1.25 million lines of code to singlehandedly create the first Chinese language word processor. This DOS-based software by 1993 had 95% of China’s market share.

Yet, as Windows 3.0 hit the market, Kingsoft saw the writing on the wall. Realizing that Chinese users would soon be shifting from DOS to Windows, Kingsoft made a big bet on a new product called Pangu, putting all their R&D into an office management software that took three years to develop and only sold 6,000 copies. In the meantime, Microsoft invested its energy in a Word feature set that surpassed WPS’ offerings.

In 1996, Kingsoft signed a deal with Microsoft to create Word and WPS interoperability. But in fact, this agreement just make it easier for Chinese consumers to switch. By the time Windows 97 was released, Microsoft was able to easily persuade users to switch to using the word processor already installed on their new hard drives.

While at this time the Chinese government began mass purchases of WPS, two factors began cutting into Kingsoft’s revenue. First, a price war between Kingsoft and Microsoft. Next, piracy kicked up on the mainland. Even though Microsoft was aggressively fighting piracy in the rest of the world, it decided that Microsoft’s global scale meant it could afford the short-term loss in revenue in China to gain market share.

According to a Fortune Magazine history of the conflict, “Gates argued at the time that…if [the Chinese] were going to pirate anybody's software he'd certainly prefer it be Microsoft's.”

Wps Office Chinese App Alternative

Bentel security port devices driver. In 2002, Microsoft, confident in its market share, cut the legs out from under WPS by canceling their interoperability agreement. By that time, Microsoft had won friends in high places through strong government relations and a superior product. They offered the Chinese government the ability to peek into Microsoft’s source code and add their own cryptography. Microsoft was also able to engender goodwill by opening a Beijing research lab and putting money into local software startups.

These efforts and the extra billions Microsoft had to invest allowed it to take market share and bring Kingsoft to its knees. According to Fortune then-Premier Hu Jintao told Bill Gates when he visited Redmond in 2006: “You are a friend to the Chinese people, and I am a friend of Microsoft. Every morning I go to my office and use your software.'

Yet in late 2008, Confident in their place in the market and eager to take advantage of Chinese users’ new spending power, a new Windows anti-piracy push renewed domestic security concerns.

Wps Office Alternative Non Chinese App

Sister Dan Dan tells the story:

On October 20, 2008, Microsoft announced the launch of two 'important notices': the Windows Genuine Advantage Program Notice and Office Genuine Advantage Program Notice.

If your computer had a pirated version of Windows installed, then your computer background would turn black every one hour.

Users who had pirated Office installed saw their software permanently visually marked.

This move sparked discussions throughout society. On the one hand, it was a legitimate action by Microsoft to defend its rights, and we cannot refute that. Moreover, China at that time had just stepped up its efforts to protect intellectual property rights and was cracking down on piracy.

However, Microsoft's decision to punish users rather than piracy producers and sellers still makes many resentful.

What's more, Microsoft showed that it could intrude into the user's system without the user's consent and carry out interference and sabotage actions.

Users who have become accustomed to Word are like lambs that have been fed by Microsoft, who were getting fat until this moment when they were taken to the slaughter.

This has also sounded the alarm bell for information security in our country.

Many large state-owned enterprises and government departments at the time were loyal users of Microsoft.

No one could guarantee that Microsoft wouldn’t invade the system, perform interference and sabotage activities, and do they wanted with user data.

And such concerns are not groundless.

According to Snowden ’s disclosures of the US “Prism” project, multiple US government agencies have asked Microsoft, Facebook and other companies for user data.

Computer expert Ni Guangnan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, stepped forward to publicly state that 'China was held hostage by Microsoft.'

However, if no independently controllable software exists, then there could never be real information security.

This moment is reminiscent of the 2018 ZTE ‘Sputnik Moment.’

At this point, WPS began to turn things around. As Sister Dan Dan writes, an RMB 5 million (about $710,000) contract from the government’s 863 Plan helped stave off bankruptcy. Future Xiaomi founder Lei Jun led Kingsoft’s effort to remake WPS from scratch for users now used to Word. The launch of WPS2005, and subsequent decision to make WPS’ personal version available for free, helped the product find its feet. The ability to beat Microsoft on price and nearly match it on features made WPS competitive for cost-conscious firms and government offices.

In 2011, Lei Jun, who while heading Xiaomi also worked as chairman of Kingsoft, pushed the firm to invest in mobile office software. Thanks to this decision, WPS beat Microsoft Office to market on Android phones by four years. They now boast a total global MAU of 310 million with government contracts in over thirty provinces and 69 Fortune 500 Chinese firms. With recent Chinese policy aiming to excise foreign software from all state offices, expect those contracts to only increase (farewell Windows 10: Chinese Government Edition).

WPS also now has a considerable overseas presence. 80 million overseas MAUs are mostly concentrated in Southeast Asia, where the firm can leverage Xiaomi smartphones’ popularity. Other major tech firms have since followed WPS’ lead—for instance Bytedance’s new app Lark, which aims to challenge Slack overseas.

But what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Just as the Chinese government fears the information security issues inherent with foreign software, so will international firms take precautions with Chinese products. The same security questions that plague Huawei abroad will at some point confront WPS and Lark.