夜来风雨声， 花落知多少? (At night the sound of wind and rain; Who knows how many flowers have fallen?; Poet Meng Haoran, 689-740, “Spring Dawn”)

It is almost April, which means it is not only time for cherry blossoms in Washington, but, as we approaching IP Week in China (April 26),  — dueling software data.

Here’s a digest of how China’s recently released data compares to BSA data.

According an article published in SIPO’s newspaper, which reported on a press conference on March 20,  New Progress in China’s  Promotion of Software Legalization, in 2014,  83% of Central and State organs promote their institutions have completed software legalization; 　 826,700 were procured, operating systems, Office, antivirus software, with a purchase amount of 461 million RMB. A total of 4,112 firms included in the annual software legalization work; 3,715 enterprises completed software legalization through inspection and acceptance.   The most critical datapoint: at the end of December 2014, new computer pre-installed genuine operating system software pre-installed rates continue to move up for 8 consecutive years, to a rate in 2013 at 98.42%.

The data from the Busines Software Alliance, released in the June 2014 BSA Global Software Survey, tells a different story. According to BSA, China has an unlinced PC software rate of 74%, with an unlicensed value of $8.767 billion. This reflected a decline from 82 percent in 2007.  The commercial value of unlicensed software dropped from 8.702 to 8.767 billion from 2011 to 2013.

The good news is that both sides appear to degree that software piracy is declining. The bad news is that the Chinese view the glass as nearly full.  BSA views the glass as more than 2/3 empty.

There may be any number of reasons for the differences in data, including sampling and analytical differences, but also including the type of software under consideration (package/embedded/cloud-based, commercial/non-commercial, etc.), and the impact of technological changes on these differences.   The migration to smart phone, tablet and cloud platforms and increasing competition may also be affecting package software sales.

In an apparently unrelated development, Microsoft announced March 18, 2015, that it is offering Windows 10 upgrades to both licensed and unlicensed users in China.   Microsoft said that its plan is to  “re-engage” with the hundreds of millions of users of Windows in China.  Microsoft is also working with Lenovo Group, to help roll out Windows 10 in China to current Windows users, and it also is offering Windows 10 through security company Qihoo 360 Technology Co and Tencent Holdings Ltd, China’s biggest social networking company.

Based on the press release one additional positive outcome of the plan may be that this free upgrade (or, indeed, legalization) is intended to help with adoption of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform,  which reportedly will provide a universal app platform across a range of devices including Microsoft’s mobile platform.