Chinese government bans Windows 8, due Windows XP

The Chinese government has put a ban on purchasing computers running on Windows 8. According to the Chinese press-agency Xinhuanet the measure is in place to ensure computer security after Microsoft ceased to offer security updates for Windows XP.

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Chinese consumers can continue to use and purchase Windows 8 computers, but on government computers Microsoft's latest operating system is no longer allowed. All desktops, laptops and tablets purchased by the government should now contain other operating systems than Windows 8.

Currently most Chinese government computer run on the 13 years old Windows XP. Microsoft ended support for XP in April this year meaning it also no longer releases security updates to the outdated OS, leaving XP systems open to viruses and malware. Although some companies have promised to keep releasing security software for XP, the Chinese government argues the OS is no longer secure and fears Windows 8 will have the same fate.

The Chinese don't want to take the risk of running an OS without guaranteed security support and will therefore focus on developing an own operating system. The country has several candidates all based on Linux which have been in development for a long time already but never really became popular.

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The Chinese OS developers now hope the Chinese government will switch to their products and also hope Chinese consumers will follow.

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