While the vast majority of nations are now steering away from Windows XP, the Chinese government is looking to continue to use the 12-year old operating system. The government is working with Chinese security providers to get security patches for Windows XP, instead of upgrading to Windows 8, which it finds “expensive”.
Launched in 2001, Windows XP reached end of support earlier this month. The 12-year old operating system is still used by many, but Microsoft no longer provides security support to it. A copy of Windows 8 costs around $140 in China, which the local government finds “fairly expensive” and is now “appraising” the special protection products Chinese security providers have released.
“Security problems could arise because of a lack of technical support after Microsoft stopped providing services, making computers with XP vulnerable to hackers.”, says Yan Xiaohong, senior official. Microsoft’s decision to end security support for Windows XP was condemned by Chinese media. The American technology giant partnered with Lenovo and Tencent to provide security services to Windows XP users in China. However, this doesn’t seem like a part of that initiative.
The government is pressuring state-owned enterprises to use genuine copies of software.
