Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported that the Central Government Procurement Center instructed the central state organs to only purchase desktops, laptops and tablet PCs that run an operating system other than Windows 8. This government order is only applicable on computers used by government offices. The personal computer market will not be affected by this move, and consumers are free to install whichever operating system they choose for their personal use. Majority of computers in China operates on the old Windows XP OS, which has a market share of 70 percent in the country. Microsoft stopped providing support for Windows XP back in April, which results in several security concerns and appeals for an OS developed in China. Xinhua noted that “The Chinese government obviously cannot ignore the risks of running OS without guaranteed technical support. It has moved to avoid the awkwardness of being confronted with a similar situation again in the future if it continues to purchase computers with foreign OS.” Xinhua further said that apart from imposing ban on the Windows 8 operating system in central government offices, the country is also required to develop its own operating system based on Linux.
