WPS Office

WPS Office
WPS Office 2014 in Windows 7
Developer(s) Kingsoft
Initial release 1988 (1988)
Stable release
WPS Office for Windows (v.10.2.0.6051) / May 5, 2018 (2018-05-05)
Written in CodeGear Delphi, C/C++
Platform Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, Linux[1]
Available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese
Type Office suite
License

Proprietary

Website wps.com

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

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]

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.

On 28 May 2017 Kingsoft tweeted that the Linux version was at a halt,[7] 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.[8]

History

Pre-history

WPS Office initially started as Super-WPS文字处理系统 (Super-WPS Word Processing System, then known simply as WPS) debuted in 1988 as a word processor which ran on DOS systems and sold by then HONGKONG KINGSUN COMPUTER CO., LTD.. It was the first Chinese word processor designed and developed for the China mainland market. WPS was used from the late 1980s.

Early history

Faced with competition from Microsoft Office, Kingsoft chief software architect Pak Kwan Kau (求伯君) diverted 4 million RMB 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, succeeding WPS Office 2001 as the flagship version of WPS Office and 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 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 their text-to-text and text-to-speech technology into WPS Office Storm.

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 trying to enter international markets, with support for English and Japanese. The native Chinese 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 like creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations.[13]

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, similar to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.[14] WPS for Linux Alpha 18 Patch 1 was released on 11 June 2015.[1]

Since 2014

On June 6, 2014, all Kingsoft Office products were renamed WPS Office.[15]

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).[16]

On June 21, 2016, WPS Office 2016 for Windows became generally available as Freemium software, with no subscription needed for basic features.[17]

Versions and subscription model

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".[18]

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.[19]

A lifetime license for WPS Office 2016 Professional can be purchased for $79.99.[19]

File format

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.[20]

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 Currently 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. ↑ Joey Sneddon (28 May 2017). "Linux Users Shouldn't Expect Further Updates to WPS Office…". OMG! Ubuntu!. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Joey Sneddon (31 May 2017). "Kingsoft Say WPS Office for Linux Will Continue To Be Updated After all". OMG! Ubuntu!. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  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. ↑ "WPS Office + PDF". Android Picks. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  14. ↑ "Kingsoft Office 2013 has been released". Kingsoft Office. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "Kingsoft Office Change Name to WPS Office". Kingsoft Office. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  16. ↑ "WPS Office for Windows". WPS Office. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  17. ↑ "WPS Office Implements Freemium Version of Software". wps.com. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  18. ↑ "Why you should take another look at WPS Office Free". CNet. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  19. 1 2 "Compare WPS Office". WPS Office. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  20. ↑ Mike Williams (15 June 2017). "WPS Office 2016 Free v10.2.0.5871". Techworld.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
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