BEIJING - China's
Ministry of Information Industry has forecast the four
major development trends of the software industry in
2004, based on statistics to date:
Linux in promotion and application: This year will
be crucial for Linux, a free operating system with
open-source codes. In fact, open source code and cross
platform application are the two major trends of the
global software industry, according to the ministry.
Linux will be applied more often in government online,
enterprise information drive, e-commerce and remote
education this year.
Software service becomes the competitive edge
Software service is posting the highest growth in the IT
industry and has become an important competitive edge.
More customers have come to accept the concept of
software service, including software and service
outsourcing, software customization and online software
service, call center and data processing.
The
market will be in an upswing phase, as more traditional
software companies will swerve to service providers and
software integrators (SI) in 2004.
Growing embedded software market: Embedded software
is believed to be one of the new highlights of China's
software industry. The demand for embedded software is
picking up strongly, since China is both a production
base and market for electronic and information
equipment. The ministry predicts that more companies
will be engaged in embedded software development this
year.
Soaring software export: Software outsourcing
service is a major trend of the global software
industry. Since low labor cost will no longer be the
major comparable advantage of China, the country will
focus on providing service of better quality.
According to the Guidelines to the Development
of the Software Industry promulgated by the Ministry of
Information Industry earlier this year, China will
encourage innovations in integrated circuits and
software, and focus on government procurement, property
rights trade, software export, foreign investment
attraction, embedded software certification and Chinese
Linux platforms in 2004.
(Asia
Pulse/XIC)
Jun 26, 2004
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