According to an October 22nd report from Sina.com, Kingsoft, a Chinese software developer, decides to let its Kingsoft Office, a free alternative to Microsoft Office, to go open source. As a result, free office users will have a better choice in the near future.
Free Office Software Kingsoft Office and WPS Office
Today more and more people choose either OpenOffice or Kingsoft Office as preferred and free alternatives to the Microsoft Office.
Kingsoft Office, commonly known as KSOffice or WPS Office, developed by the Zhuhai-based Kingsoft, is a good alternative to Microsoft Office. The user interface of Kingsoft Office bears resemblance to Microsoft Office. It can read and write the files generated by Microsoft Office.
Kingsoft has been developing WPS since 1989. It offered its first Windows compatible office system - WPS97 - in 1997. The latest office version Kingsoft Office 2009, also know as WPS Office 2009 or KSO09, is not based on OpenOffice. It is a quick, small (48.2M), and 100% Microsoft™ compatible office system for Windows.
Kingsoft office delivers a zero learning curve experience for those people who have been already familiar with MS Office applications. It provides cell autocompletion, tabbed windows, advanced charting, and PDF export functionality.
The personal editions of WPS Office 2005, WPS Office 2007, WPS Office 2008, and WPS Office 2009 (Kingsoft Office 2009) are free for download.
How to Download Free WPS Office 2009 or Kingsoft Office 2009
There are two free editions of Kingsoft Office 2009 (WPS Office 2009) available in Kingsoft's Chinese web site.
1. The first is the free Kingsoft Office 2009 Personal Edition. This Edition is a Chinese language version but supports more than 120 languages. It offers almost all the functions of the professional edition.
2. The second is the free School Edition of Kingsoft Office 2009. This edition is also in Chinese language but supports foreign languages as well. It offers many teaching tools, models, and materials for teachers and students.
Download Free Trial US English Professional Edition Office
Kingsoft offers free download for its 100 Days Trial US English Professional Edition Kingsoft Office in its English Web site.
Open Source Helps to Improve Free Kingsoft Office
Open source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to software’s source code. With the source code, the open source communities could help to improve the quality of Kingsoft Office. For example, developers from the communities can develop free plug-ins for the open source office.
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