The company claims that its statement has been misinterpreted

Mar 4, 2014 09:00 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has said in a statement that it’s not extending Windows XP support in China, explaining that its words published on a Chinese social network have actually been misunderstood and everyone believed that the company is willing to continue providing security patches and fixes for users in the country.

In a statement for ZDNet, a company spokesperson provided an accurate English translation of the Chinese post, which clearly states that Microsoft would actually work with local security vendors to protect Windows XP users until they migrate to a newer OS version.

“Microsoft China has taken special actions to closely work with leading Chinese internet security and anti-virus companies including Tencent for them to provide security protection for Chinese Windows XP users before they upgrade to modern operating system,” the statement reads.

Windows XP remains the second most popular OS worldwide, with recent figures revealing that 29 percent of desktop computers are still running it right now.

The company will start displaying upgrade notifications on computers still running Windows XP on March 8, along with links to a webpage hosting information on the transition process to a newer OS version such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, which are both promoted as the right alternatives for Windows XP installations.