The first time was in 1994 to speed up the development of the nation's car industry.

This time, the supporting policies for software are expected to trigger a new round of reform in the sector. The policies emphasize technology innovation, the training of professional talents and service improvement.

The drafting of the policies is timely. Currently, the fast spread of the Internet has created a good environment for the software industry. The Chinese government has paid more and more attention to its growth.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of enterprises have come to realize that their performances will, to a large extent, depend on good software products.

Statistics indicate that the output of China's software industry hit 14.6 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) in 1999.

At present, China has more than 5,000 software companies. About 470,000 professionals are working on software research and development.

In the past decade, China's software industry has increased at a double-digit rate.

However, the overall scale of the nation's software industry is still quite small, an essential disadvantage to its survival, pointed out the article.

The design of operating systems, the basic software tool running computers, has long been dominated by the Windows series developed by US firm Microsoft.

Domestic software enterprises are small, usually employing fewer than 50 people. The number of their clients is also small.

It's possible that the fledgling domestic software sector will be pushed into a corner when more multinational corporations enter the domestic market.

Compared with countries whose software industry is mature, China lags behind in both technology and management.

India has set a fine example in the development of the software industry.

According to a report from the World Bank, India now ranks first in the world in terms of scale, quality and cost of software products export. Indian statistics show that the country's software export volume was only US$4 million in 1980, but more than US$2.7 billion in 1998.

Just before the new policy was formed in China, some positive changes took place, such as the establishment of a standard management and quality evaluation system, more importance attached to the protection of intellectual property rights and technological innovation.

But to meet international standards, China's software sector needs to make more efforts, said the article.

The government must continue to fight against copyright piracy and create more opportunities for software companies to communicate with multinational corporations.

University and research institutes should enhance software-related education by giving students opportunities to learn about modern technology.

(China Daily 02/12/2001)