14 DAY TRIAL // Figures provided by third-party market researchers across the world show that Windows XP remains the second most-used operating system on the desktop, just after Windows 7, which obviously continues to lead the charts right now.
But as far as China is concerned, Windows XP is clearly the dominant operating system, with figures provided by StatCounter indicating that users in the country don’t really care about Microsoft’s end of support prepared for April 8.
At this point, Windows XP has a market share of 48.26 percent in China, followed closely by Windows 7 with 44.46 percent. The other operating systems in the chart are trailing behind with disappointing figures, starting with Windows 8 (3.09 percent) and ending with Windows 8.1 (1.16 percent).
China was one of the countries where Microsoft was rumored to be offering extended support for Windows XP, but the company has recently confirmed that it doesn’t plan to continue providing patches and security updates for this particular platform unless authorities purchase a subscription.
“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 company said.
Of course, the software giant continues its efforts to move users to newer platforms, even though it’s pretty obvious that not everyone agrees with Microsoft’s decision to discontinue Windows XP.
Many have decided to wait for Windows 9 and only then upgrade to another operating system, while others are calling for Microsoft to launch a second edition Windows XP that would be based on the same interface, but with low system requirements.
“If you were to create an XP second edition, I'm sure your customers would buy up 200 million or more licenses in the first few months. I know i would buy them for all of my current computers. I have windows XP in a Virtual machine and I see why everyone loves it. So please create a windows XP second edition. If anyone agrees with me, then post it in the discussion,” one Windows XP user recently said in a discussion on Microsoft’s Community forums.
In the end, Microsoft must continue its efforts to move users from Windows XP and since end of support is so close, the company should really do its best in the next 28 days to make sure that everyone is fully secure.