China Turns Out To Be A Tough Spot For Microsoft

Microsoft was shocked by China’s decision to ban the use of Windows 8 on its government systems. A report published in China’s national news agency Xinhua indicates that the Chinese government has directed all government institutions in the country to not use Windows 8 on any office PCs. The ban does not affect individual users. However, it is sure to affect Microsoft’s ambition to become the biggest OS seller in the world’s largest market.  Of late, Microsoft has been working out different steps to improve the sale of Windows operating systems in the Chinese market. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Chinese government is infuriated by Microsoft’s decision to lift Windows XP support.  

Windows XP market use in China

According to a survey conducted recently, more than 90 percent of the government offices in China use Windows XP. When Microsoft lifted Windows XP on 8^th April, China was among the first countries to react to the decision. Of late, it has been reported that China is encouraging third party PC security firms to come up with effective solutions to curb security issues popping up in XP in the wake of Microsoft’s termination of support.

The country is willing to upgrade to Windows 8 or use the advanced Windows 8 transfer feature for backing up and moving data between PCs. It appears that the country has not approved Windows 8 because of the controversies over Edward Snowden’s revelation that Microsoft is supporting America to spy diplomatic data of other countries. Countries like Germany and Brazil had strongly opposed the CIA’s spying. However, no other country but China had taken a strong opposition against Windows 8 citing security reasons.

Future of Windows operating systems in China

Despite its status as the biggest country in the world in terms of population, China does not appear to be an easy spot for Microsoft to sell its operating systems. Although China does not interfere in individual users’ choice of operating systems, more than 70 percent of the individual users in the country prefer pirated or cracked versions of Windows instead of genuine licenses. To get potential customers in the country, Microsoft has to implement different sales and marketing tactics.

Features like Windows 8 transfer are welcomed by a large number of users and have been a reason for many people opting for this OS. However, it has hardly had any impact on the Chinese users.