China Thinks Windows 8 Is ‘Expensive’

Windows XP has, at long last, arrived at the end of its support life earlier this month, but this does not mean that millions of other machines, homes, and organizations still make use of Windows XP as their operating system of choice. Some of them do not want to make the jump because they’re already so comfortable with the tried and true, while others shun the cost of upgrading. Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China’s National Copyright Administration, has apparently ruled out plans for the Chinese government to make an upgrade to a newer version of Windows – that is, Windows 8, citing that the upgrade to Windows 8 would be “fairly expensive”.

Furthermore, Xiaohong added, this particular upgrade of the operating system will eventually see the public’s financial resources being used more than normal. It must be noted that an individual Windows 8 licence costs 888 CNY (around $142) in China, although there has been special promotions before that have seen the price of the Windows 8 licence drop all the way to 299 CNY ($48 after conversion).

Apparently the cost of upgrading for the Chinese government seems to be too high at the moment, which points to them grooving to Windows XP in the immediate future. China has also stated that they will not be forking out a single cent to Microsoft to receive extended support for XP, never mind that Microsoft has already taken steps to lower its custom support pricing last week. Yan claims that there is no thing to fret, as Chinese security companies are working with the government at the moment to roll out patches for its XP systems. How much longer time do you think Windows XP has left on the clock?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Microsoft, windows xp