14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is one of the companies that are currently under investigation in China after local authorities started an anti-trust probe for no clear reason, with some offices of the software giant being raided several times by officials.
Only little is known at this point regarding Microsoft’s involvement in the probe, but a Chinese anti-trust regulator revealed that the company wasn’t fully transparent when it shared data regarding software sales in the country.
Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), explained that Microsoft had already expressed its intention to collaborate with investigators in order to address all claims and find a way to continue selling products in the country just like before the probe.
“After multiple meetings including at high levels, they've expressed a willingness to respect Chinese law and collaborate with investigating officials,” Zhang explained. “The investigation is presently ongoing, and we will disclose the results to the public in a timely fashion.”
China’s anti-trust investigation started in May, when the central government decided to ban Windows 8 on government computers and raid several offices to seize documents and computers that could be used as evidence against the Redmond-based company.
Soon after China decided to ban Windows 8, Microsoft issued a statement to explain its intention to collaborate with government officials and provide them with an alternative, adding that Windows 7 would remain available all this time in case they still needed a powerful operating system.
“We were surprised to learn about the reference to Windows 8 in this notice. Microsoft has been working proactively with the Central Government Procurement Center and other government agencies through the evaluation process to ensure that our products and services meet all government procurement requirements. We have been and will continue to provide Windows 7 to government customers. At the same time we are working on the Windows 8 evaluation with relevant government agencies,” a Microsoft spokesperson told us.
China is now developing its very own operating system based on Linux and hopes to replace Windows on state computers by the end of the year, in an attempt to step away from Microsoft software.
The software giant hasn’t yet issued a statement on this, but it’s pretty clear that Microsoft isn’t pleased with China’s intentions, especially because this is one of the largest markets in the entire world.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft for an official comment on today’s report and will update the article when we get an answer.