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Government bureaus banned from using Windows 8
Online Edition
Chinese government bureaus have been forbidden from upgrading office computers to Windows 8 after Microsoft Corp stopped offering tech support for Windows XP last month, a government website said today.
All government bureaus are forbidden from purchasing or upgrading computers to Windows 8, the Procurement Center of the Central Government Institution, an official website providing government purchase information, said on its website. It did not provide detailed reasons for the move.
Windows 8 has potential security problems that would put government bureaus at risk.
Bureaus can still use Microsoft's Windows 7 software or home-grown operating systems, industry officials said.
Microsoft has not yet commented on the issue.
In April, Microsoft announced it would stop providing regular anti-malware updates for its 13-year-old Windows XP, forcing about 200 million Chinese Windows XP users to upgrade their system or continue using it with potential risks.
Without anti-malware support computers are vulnerable to system crashes, computer viruses and Internet fraud.
As of the end of January, 49 percent of 400 million Chinese computer users were using Windows XP, according to research firm StatCounter.
Industry insiders reportedly had urged the government and industry leaders not to adopt Microsoft's Windows 8 and encouraged the country to develop its own system.
"This is an information technology security incident," said Ni Guangnan, a computer scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. "It puts millions of computers at risk."
Ni also suggested that China needs to invest in the development of its own operating systems.
Chinese firms have developed several Linux-based operating systems, but they remain immature compared to Windows and only serve niche markets.
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