More than one in four software companies in China believes piracy is the biggest barrier to the development of China's software industry, according to a report Friday on the Web site of the official People's Daily newspaper.
A survey of software enterprises in China found that 26 percent believed illicit copying, sharing and unauthorized installation of software is the most significant barrier to further growth of the industry. The People's Daily did not identify the source of the survey.
The survey found 19.6 percent of software companies believe lack of money is the biggest impediment to the growth of China's software industry.
The industry by 1999 had grown to more than 37 times its size in the early 1990s, to 17.6 billion renminbi (US$2.13 billion) in 1999 from just 460 million renminbi in 1991, according to the study.
According to its annual report on software piracy in Asia, the Business Software Alliance ranked China as the number two worst nation in Asia in 1999 for piracy with a rate of 91 percent. [See "Asian Software Piracy Fell in 1999, BSA Says," May 26.]