14 DAY TRIAL // China has started its very own war with US tech firms, and Microsoft is one of the big names involved in this fight, even though we’re pretty sure that Redmond would actually prefer a much friendlier approach for this particular market.
After banning Windows 8 on government computers, Chinese authorities have recently raided Microsoft’s offices in several regions in what is believed to be a new anti-trust investigation against the software giant.
Little is known right now about the reasons behind this new dispute between China and Microsoft, but the software giant has already expressed its intention to collaborate with authorities in order to resolve any existing issues.
Now there are reports that China is actually trying to support the adoption of products developed by local companies, including operating systems based on Linux which could entirely replace Windows.
But is this possible on the short term? Not really, statistics provided by market share researchers indicate.
At this point, Windows is holding a market share that’s surpassing 90 percent in the country and Linux is not even showing up in this month’s charts.
For example, StatCounter says that Windows 7 has a share of 50.32 percent, while Windows XP is the runner up with 40.22 percent. Windows 8 and 8.1 are next with a combined share of approximately 6 percent.
Microsoft is not at all willing to give up the fight, so it’s still negotiating with the Chinese authorities not only to make sure that it gets no penalty following this new anti-trust investigation, but also in an attempt to bring Windows 8 back on government computers.
“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 shortly after the Windows 8 ban was announced.
What’s more, the cost advantage of Linux in China isn’t quite a thing that open-source fans can brag about, because most Windows copies in the country are already pirated. According to Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO, 9 out of 10 Windows licenses in China are not genuine, but the company has promised to tackle the issue of piracy better in the coming years, as it struggles to boost sales in the country.