QIM Chinese Input

It seems I’ve been bumping into Mac users left and right since moving to Beijing, and one discussion I always seem to have with them is Chinese phonetic/pinyin input methods on the Mac.

OS X comes standard with a Simplified Chinese input method, and a Traditional Chinese input method. I’ve always liked using Apple’s Simplified Chinese phonetic/pinyin input method, “ITABC”, and actually feel that MS Pinyin, the Windows users’ standard solution, is inferior. (You could call me biased, but I actually like Microsoft’s Word, Excel and Entourage–especially Entourage–apps quite a bit, have a Live Spaces blog, a Hotmail/Live Messenger account and even use a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, so you wouldn’t have a whole lot of support for your argument.)

It seems, however, that I am in the minority. Almost everyone else I’ve talked to prefers Microsoft’s solution. What are some other solutions for the Mac then?

Well, pretty much every other Mac user I know in China (all three of them) has QIM installed on their Mac. Yale University’s [chinese mac] website says the following about QIM:

The QuickCore Input Method (QIM) is a Simplified Chinese Pinyin input method with optional support for Traditional Chinese. Displays candidates in real time, during both typing and the selection process. Its hallmarks are speed and flexibility. In both areas, QIM improves upon the input methods provided by Apple and Microsoft.

QIM is not free, but it’s not expensive either. There is a free trial though. You get 10000 characters or 30 days, whichever comes first. Curiously, the QIM developers seem to have forgotten that China’s dual pricing system ended in the 90’s. QIM is $19.99 for people living outside mainland China and a little under $9 (69 RMB) for people living in mainland China. Actually, I think this pricing scheme makes a lot of sense, because it could be seen as compensating for the large difference in income between China and India, Thailand, Afghanistan, Somalia The West. But maybe I’m just biased since I live in China and can get that China discount.

Tags QIM, IME, Chinese

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