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All government computers will no longer utilize Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 operating system, according to an online announcement by the Central Government Procurement Center.
With the ban on Windows 8 all PCs, desktops and laptops procured by the central state agencies now have to be installed with operating systems other than Windows 8.
Likewise Windows 8 cannot be installed for upgrades since the said operating system is not included in procurement bidding.
No details of the reason behind the ban were given by the procurement center in their online statement.
Industry figures however show that Windows 8 has security problems for government agencies. Industry insiders foresee that bureaus must now upgrade to Windows 7 or a China developed operating system from Windows XP.
In April, Microsoft stopped providing regular anti-malaware updates for Windows XP, a 13-year old OS that majority of the computers of the Chinese government use.
Windows XP was likewise being used by 49 percent of computer users in China, according to the research company, StatCounter.
With the termination of support from Microsoft for XP users, around 200 million Chinese using the said OS had to resort to upgrading their system.
Those who chose to continue using the OS run the risk of encountering system crash, viruses and Internet fraud.
The end of support from Microsoft raised concerns regarding online security.
Ni Guangnan, a computer scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who is likewise part of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, regards the recent Windows XP security update termination as an information security incident that will result in "serious loopholes for computers."
Qi Xiangdong, president of Qihoo 360 Technology said that this recent development will give China's IT companies to push for the support of operating systems that are developed in China.
To date there are already a number of Chinese developed Linus-based operating systems like KylinOS and StartOS.
An Yang, Qihoo 360 security expert said that the initial step that has to be taken is to have official users start using these Chinese developed systems.
