Windows XP retired in April. Data from StatCounter showed that an estimated 43 percent of Chinese computers still used Windows XP, a far cry from the worldwide average of 16 percent.The retirement of the much loved operating system clearly leaves a big space in the Chinese market. And it was logical to assume that its most recent successor, Windows 8, would be the operating system to step up to the plate. However, worries about American intrusion and security loopholes have led the Chinese government to prohibit the usage of Windows 8 on government computers.
Instead, the Chinese government is calling for the increased purchase and development of domestically developed operating systems, specifically those created on Linux. Although the ban of Windows 8 does not directly affect the general public, Sina News reports that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is pushing for domestic users to gravitate from Windows XP to domestic operating systems too. It's not too far fetched an idea, either–China has a long history of successfully developing domestic software. The messaging software QQ, for example, is more popular than the foreign-developed MSN, since it was specifically developed to cater to Chinese people's sensibilities.
But even with all this support, domestic operating system developers have a long road ahead. Previous attempts have ended in failure, with the most famous of them all, Red Flag Linux (红旗Linux), recently falling into bankruptcy as it found itself unable to carve out a niche in the domestic market. While its nice to win fair, domestic developers are likely to grab any chances they can get, and the ban on Windows 8 might be their greatest chance yet.
Master image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; featured image courtesy of Pixabay and Wikimedia Commons.
Article by Ruellia Zhang
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