Microsoft Launches Chinese Windows

After three years of wrangling with China’s government, Microsoft Corp. launched Chinese versions of its personal and office computer operating systems Thursday.

At least half of the estimated 1.5 million personal computers China imports over the next 12 months will be equipped with Chinese versions of Windows 95, said Charles Stevens, vice president of Microsoft Far East.

“Fifty percent is conservative - it may be 60 percent to 70 percent,” Stevens told a news conference.

Thursday’s launch inside the Forbidden City and Microsoft’s optimism come after the company’s first planned foray into China’s software market in 1993.

Sore that Microsoft wanted to use a Chinese-language version of Windows developed in rival Taiwan, Beijing threatened to keep the software giant out of China’s burgeoning market. Microsoft for its part complained about rampant software piracy.

The two compromised over a year later. Microsoft agreed to work with China in developing a new Chinese version of Windows, and Beijing pledged to crack down on copycats.