A staff member of Microsoft Taiwan demonstrates the interface of the new Windows 10 operating system at a press conference in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, July 29, 2015. Windows 10 was launched in 190 countries and regions on Wednesday.[Xinhua]

For the Chinese version of Windows 10, Microsoft has readapted its intelligent personal assistant Cortana with local content. The new OS also comes with a similar service currently only available in China called "XiaoIce", which Microsoft says already has 37 million users in the country. The developers based in Microsoft's Beijing R&D headquarter is also working with engineers in Tokyo to develop a Japanese version.

"Chinese software developers deserve the global spotlight and I think someday the BUILD conference (for developers) should be hosted in China too."

Microsoft has also been trying to cultivate closer relationship with a wide range of partners in China as part of what Shum call the expansion of Windows ecosystem in China.

In March, the company moved its WinHEC conference for hardware makers to the southern Chinese city Shenzhen. According to Shum, the company is also expanding its ecosystem in Beijing to include a growing software developer community.

Microsoft has also been running an incubator in China to nurture promising start-ups and is seeking to become a part of China's grand plan to use the internet to revolutionize industrial manufacturing through cloud computing and IoT.

In such cases, many of Microsoft's partners that help it promote operating systems have become its potential rivals. Domestic internet giants like Tencent, Alibaba and many others are scrambling for a foothold in data analytics and cloud computing.

"We understand we will venture into these business with competition from Chinese firms but with that we also see great businesses opportunities and we certainly don't want to miss out the rise of mobile internet and IoT in China," Shum said.

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