Photo

Microsoft’s plans to retire its Windows XP operating system have raised concerns in China, which has been slow to upgrade its computers.

Microsoftsays it will no longer be offering technical support or security patches for Windows XP after April 8, and it is encouraging users to upgrade to newer operating systems, such as Windows 8.

Although the percentage of computers running Windows XP in China is declining ahead of Microsoft’s deadline, it’s still quite high. As of January, 49 percent of Chinese computers were using the 12-year-old operating system,according to StatCounter, an analysis firm. That compares with less than 18 percent worldwide and less than 11 percent in the United States.

Experts say the pervasiveness of software piracy in China, though it has tapered off in recent years, means that computer users are unenthusiastic about shelling out for upgrades.

In China, the official retail price for Windows 8 is 988 renminbi, or about $160, for the basic version and 1,988 renminbi, or about $325, for the professional version, though discounted prices are widely available.

China’sefforts nearly a decade ago to promote the use of legitimate software were a boon to the fortunes of Microsoft, which had struggled with widespread copying of its products. The government took steps to ensure that its own computers were not using pirated software and introduced rules that new machines had to have pre-installed, licensed operating systems.

Beijing argues that Microsoft’s push to wean users off Windows XP and onto newer operating systems could harm its antipiracy efforts. In December, Yan Xiaohong, the deputy director of the National Copyright Administration, told a representative of BSA: The Software Alliance, an industry trade group, that Microsoft’s decision to end support for Windows XP meant that Chinese consumers were facing grave security risks and that efforts to reduce software piracy would be undermined, because users would balk at the cost of upgrading their operating systems, according to areport in Legal Daily, a newspaper run by the Chinese Ministry of Justice.

But those costs are part of the reason why Microsoft is unlikely to back down on its plan to phase out Windows XP. Erwin Visser, senior director within Microsoft’s Windows division, said last year that moving users off Windows XP was a $32 billion service opportunity for its commercial partners,ZDNet reported.

The pressure for Chinese users to upgrade their systems has also revived longstanding concerns within China about United States government agencies using hidden security flaws in software developed by American companies for surveillance purposes.

Ni Guangnan, a computer scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that Windows 8 would leave users open to security threats and urged Chinese government agencies and important industries not to adopt it because of the risk of American intrusions, according toGlobal Times, a newspaper run by the Communist Party-owned People’s Daily Group. Microsoft allows China and other countries to examine its source code and offer their own substitutions to ease concerns about vulnerabilities.

Chinese technology firms say they plan to help users with some of the difficulties they will face with the changeover. Tencent, Kingsoft, Sogou and others will provide technical assistance with security problems and operating system upgrades, services they expect could be needed for the next two or three years, the state news agencyXinhua reported. “The upcoming shutdown will seriously affect Chinese users,” Ding Ke, a senior manager of Tencent, a major Chinese Internet portal, told Xinhua.

Sinosphere, the China blog of The New York Times, delivers intimate, authoritative coverage of the planet's most populous nation and its relationship with the rest of the world. Drawing on timely, engaging dispatches from The Times’ distinguished team of China correspondents, this blog brings readers into the debates and discussions taking place inside a fast-changing country and details the cultural, economic and political developments shaping the lives of 1.3 billion people.

Chinese Debate Proper Response to Hostage’s Killing

Some called on the government to send troops to the Middle East in retaliation to an Islamic State killing, while others cautioned that such a move could invite terrorism at home.Read more…

Fresh Doubt Over China’s Pledge to Amend Transplant Policy

Some disagree, saying that there has been a surge in voluntary donations as China announced it would end organ harvesting from death-row prisoners.Read more…

Hong Kong Soccer Fans Celebrate Draw With China

For many Hong Kong fans, the World Cup qualifier was as much a political contest as an sporting one.Read more…

China Responds to Paris Attacks Through a Domestic Lens

Along with revulsion, Chinese leaders and many citizens also voiced a more complex mix of expectations and emotions, rooted in rival views of the country’s own problems.Read more…

Taiwan’s President Defends Meeting With Chinese Leader

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan defended his decision to meet with President Xi Jinping of China, rejecting accusations that he had undermined Taiwan’s sovereignty.Read more…

FollowSinosphere on